mi 



Glass 
Book 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

OF THE 

LITERATURE AND RELIGION 

OF THE 

BUDDHISTS. 

By BfH; HODGSON, Esq. B. C. S. 



SERAMPORK 

4 

1841. 



PREFACE. 



The whole of the following Papers are reprints: the dates 
of which may be proved by consulting the originals in the Trans- 
actions and Journal of the Asiatic Societies of Bengal and London. 
But it may be worth while to observe that the first Paper was 
written in 1825, though printed only in 1828, after the tardy usage 
of those days in such matters. So soon as this paper reached me 
in print, I corrected it as it now stands. 

The rest of the papers retain their original published forms, 
but in regard to the third I have preferred the later Edition of the 
Bengal Journal to the earlier, but less full one, of the London 
Journal. Some of my friends, who seem to have a horror at 
generalizations, slily fling their squibs at what they call my spe- 
culative propensity. 

Yet I trust there is no great harm done in attempting to link 
tedious details into their appropriate concatenation ; and I sus- 
pect that sundry disjecta membra of this great subject have been, 
in sundry hands, only made to wear an intelligible aspect by the 
light of the general views occasionally opened in these papers. 
If the topic be, in parts, deep and abstract, I cannot help that ; 
but, for facts to support my views, there is surely no lack of 
them ;* and I will merely point to the classified catalogue of the 
principal objects of Buddhist worship, as a mass of facts painfully 
elaborated and set in order for the benefit of those who are work- 
ing and may work at the great and new mine of Bauddha litera- 
ture which it has been my good fortune to open. I presume not 
to say that when this mine shall have been indeed explored, 
all my general views will be found valid. But many, I trust, 
will ; and, in the mean while, all enquiries conducted into this 

* See the whole of paper III. and the large appendices to many of the other 
papers ! 



11 



new subject with the sole aid of books, may be facilitated, and 
curiosity may be both stimulated and directed by them : as, in- 
deed, has been actually the case in various places where, I am sor- 
ry to add, there has been a rather uncandid obliviousness of the 
source of the obligation. I refer the curious in dates, to mine 
and other peoples', anent the premises, merely observing that the 
< Quotations in Proof,' which form the basis and evidence of my 
opinions, were extracted from their several original authorities 
between 1822 and 1824, though not published in that form till 
several years after, for reasons assigned elsewhere. 

A word to the general reader. Don't be alarmed by the anti- 
quarian cast of this subject, and be assured that the doctrines and 
practises of that religion which, for number of followers, leaves be- 
hind it every other on the face of the earth, are well worthy the 
attention of all men of sense and information. 

With respect to India, though Buddhism has disappeared totally 
from the Continent for some ages, there can be no doubt that in 
this, its parent country, it long divided the empire of opinion 
nearly equally with Brahmanism. Nor, if we consider that Bud- 
dhism proclaimed the equality of all men and.women in the sight 
of God, that it denounced the impious pretentions of the most 
mischievous priesthood the world ever saw, and that it inculcated 
a pure system of practical morality, can we refuse to allow that 
the innovation was as advantageous as it was extensively spread and 
adopted. And how was this, the first and last, great moral impres- 
sion upon Hindooism accomplished ? Beyond a question by turn- 
ing the enemy's battery of Sanscrit lore upon themselves, and by 
vernacular appeals to the common sense and common interest of 
the many. 

Those who are now engaged in establishing a sound system of 
Education in India, based upon European knowledge, and who 
eannot or will not appreciate the value — the supreme value and 
efficacy — of vernacular instrumentality in setting a new bias on the 
popular mind, would do well to ponder attentively the History of 
Buddhist success. And, if they would attempt to neutralize the 
argument by pointing to the ultimate failure of these reformers, 



Ill 



I answer that that were mere sophistry ; for the failure resulted 
from obvious defects of Buddhism, such as its cold sceptical phi- 
losophy and its mischievous monachism. Let us undo existing 
errors to a hundredth part of the extent achieved by Buddhism, 
and our task is accomplished ; because we have that wherewith to 
fill the room of those errors which neither time nor tide could shake. 

B. H. H. 

Nepanl, January, 1841. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



I. Notices of the Languages, Literature, and Religion of 

Nepaul and of Tibet, 1 

II. Sketch of Buddhism, derived from the Bauddha Scrip- 
tures of Nepaul, 49 

III. Quotations from original Sanscrit authorities in proof 

and illustration of Mr. Hodgson's sketch of Bud- 
dhism....... 94 

IV. European Speculations on Buddhism, 136 

V. Further Remarks on M. Remusat's Review of Bud- 
dhism, 144 

VI. Remarks on M. Remusat's Review of Buddhism, ... 152 

VII. Note on the Inscription from Sarnath, 158 

VIII. Notice of Adi Buddha and of the seven mortal Bud- 

dhas, 164 

IX. Remarks on an Inscription in the Ranja and Tibetan 
(U'chhen) characters, taken from a Temple on the 

confines of the Valley of Nepaul, 171 

X. Account of a visit to the ruins of Simroun, once the 

Capital of the Mi thila Province, 176 

XI. Note on the Primary Language of the Buddhist writ- 

ings, 180 

XII. Extract of proceedings of the Royal Asiatic Society, 

January, 1836, 189 

XIII. A Disputation respecting Caste by a Buddhist, in the 

form of a series of Propositions supposed to be put 

by a Saiva and refuted by the Disputant, 192 

XIV. On the extreme resemblance that prevails between 

many of the Symbols of Buddhism and Saivism, . . . 203 

XV. The Pravrajya Vrata or Initiatory Rites of the Bud- 

dhists according to the Puja Kand, 212 



No. I. 



NOTICES OF THE LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION OP 
NEPAUL AND OF TIBET. 

(Printed from the 16th volume of the Asiatic Transactions of Bengal, 
A. D. 1828 ) 

The various contributions which I have had the honour to for- 
ward to the Library and Museum of the Asiatic Society, and the 
lists by which they have been accompanied, will have put the So- 
ciety in possession of such information as I have been able to col- 
lect respecting the articles presented. Some connected observa- 
tions suggested by the principal of them, may, however, be not 
unacceptable, as derived from enquiry on the spot, and commu- 
nication with learned Nepaulese, as well as from reference to their 
written authorities.* I do not pretend to offer a complete detail- 
ed view of the Literature or Religion of the Nepaulese. But a 
few general remarks may be attempted at present, and may pre- 
pare the way for further investigation. 

Languages of Nepaul. 
Within the limits of the modern kingdom of Nepaul, there are 
ten distinct and strongly marked dialects spoken. These are the 
Khas or Parbattia, the Magar, the Gurung, the Kachari, the 
HaiyUjf the Murmi, the Newari, the Kiranti, the Limbuan, and 

* See Paper III. or quotations in proof. Extracted from the works quoted 
between the years 1822 and 1824 Note of 1837. 

f Subsequent enquiries have satisfied me that the Haiyus have no connexion 
with the other races speaking the several dialects named. 

Judging by physiognomy, colour, manners, and customs and language, I 
conclude that the Haiyus are of the Cole race of South Behar. In Nepaul, they 
f'urm a very small clan, living in a half savage state in the wilds above Sindhuli. 

A 



2 

the Lapchan. With the exception of the first (which will be pre- 
sently reverted to) these several tongues are all of Trans-hima- 
layan stock, and are closely affiliated. They are all extremely 
rude, owing to the people who speak them having crossed the 
snows before learning had dawned upon Tibet, and to the physi- 
cal features of their new home (huge mountain barriers on every 
hand) having tended to break up and enfeeble the common speech 
they brought with them. 

At present the several tribes or clans to which these dialects are 
appropriated, can hardly speak intelligibly to each other, and not 
one of the dialects, save the Newari or language of Nepaul Pro- 
per,* can boast a single book or even a system of letters, original 
or borrowed. The Newari has, indeed, three systems of letters, 
of which more will be said in the sequel ; and it has also a small 
stock of books in the shape of translations and comments from 
and upon the sacred and exotic literature of the Newars. But the 
Newari tongue has no dictionary or grammar ; nor is its cultiva- 
tion ever thought of by those, numerous as they are, who devote 
their lives to the sacred literature of Buddhism. It may be re- 
marked, by the way, that the general and enduring effects of this 
addiction to an exotic medium, in preference to the vernacular, 
have been, to cut off the bridge leading from speculation to prac- 
tice, to divorce learning from utility, and to throw a veil of craft- 

* Nepaul Proper is the great valley and its vicinity, as opposed to the king- 
dom of Nepaul. The extreme area of the great valley may be about 400 
square miles, and its population fully 250,000. Of several proximate and sub- 
sidiary vales tenanted by the same race, (Newar), the area may be about as much 
more, but the population not above 150,000. The Newar tribe, by far the most 
numerous tribe in the kingdom, comprises nearly a fourth of the entire popula- 
tion of the kingdom. The great valley is probably the most densely peopled 
district in the world. It contains 250 towns and villages : the soil yields two 
crops a year besides greens ; every yard of the surface is cultivated (the roads 
being mere foot paths) and the whole of the food raised is for human consump- 
tion. Besides which, large supplies of food are poured into the valley from all 
the neighbouring hilly districts. The subsidiary vales above spoken of, as com- 
prised in Nepaul Proper or the region of the Newars, extend in a broken zigzag, 
east and west, from Dolkha to Nayakot. Besides the 250,000 Newars of the 
great valley, there are 20,000 intruders composing the army, Civil List and 
Priesthood of the new dynasty which conquered the valley 69 years back under 
Prithivi Narayan, the fifth in ascent from the present Sovereign. 



3 



ful mystery over the originally popular and generous practical In- 
stitutes of the religion this people profess. 

Before proceeding to a brief comparison of Newari and of the 
language of Tibet, with a view to indicate the northern stock of 
the former tongue, it will be better to notice the Khas or Parbattia 
Bhasha, since the subject may be dismissed in a few words and 
will not need revertence to. 

The only language of southern origin spoken in these Hills is 
the Khas or Parbattia — an Indian Pracrit, brought into them by 
colonies from below (13th to i5th Century of Christ) and now so 
generally diffused that, in the provinces west of the Kali river,* it 
has nearly eradicated the vernacular tongues, and, though less 
prevalent in the provinces east of that river, it has, even in them, 
as far as the Trisul Gunga, divided the empire of speech almost 
equally with the local mother tongues. The Parbattia language 
is terse, simple, sufficiently copious in words, and very characteris- 
tic of the unlettered but energetic race of soldiers and states- 
men who made it what it is. At present it is almost wholly in its 
structure, and in eight-tenths of its vocables, substantially Hin- 
dee. Yet several of its radical words still indicate an ancient 
barbarous stock. And I have no doubt that the people who more 
especially speak it (the Khas) were originally what Menu calls 
them, viz. barbarous j mountaineers of a race essentially the same 
with the several other races of Nepaulese Highlanders. Few 
persons except Brahmans are regularly taught the Parbattia lan- 
guage ; but most gentlemen speak, and may read and write, it 
with ease and correctness ; the Court, where all so often assemble, 
being the nucleus of unity and refinement. This language, how- 
ever, has no literature properly so called, and very few and trivi- 
al books. It is always written in the Deva Nagree characters, 
and, as a language of business, is extremely concise and clear. 

* The Kali, Ghagra or Sarju, is now the limit of Nepaul to the westward, 
so that the provinces beyond that river can only be adverted to in relation to 
the kingdom of Nepaul, such as it was prior to 1814. 

f This word in the mouth of a Hindoo of Madhya Des has the same sense 
which it had in the mouth of a Greek, that is, stranger to the race of the user 
of it. 

A 2 



4 



The Gorkhas speak the Parbattia Bhasha, and to their ascend- 
ency is its prevalence, in later times, to be mainly ascribed. 

Considering that Nepanl Proper or the country of Newars, has 
long been the metropolis of Gorkha power, it is rather remarkable 
that the fashionable and facile Parbattia has not made any mate- 
rial impression on the Newari language. The causes of this (not 
wholly referable to modern times) are probably, that the fertility 
and facility of communication characterising the level country of 
the Newars, soon gave consistency and body to their speech, 
whilst their religion (Buddhism) made them look with jealousy, 
as well on the more ancient Hindoo emigrants, as on the more 
modern Hindoo conquerors. In the mountainous districts, strict- 
ly so called, the case was different ; and, besides, from whatever 
reason, the tide of emigration into these regions from the south 
set chiefly on the provinces west of the Trisul Gunga.* There 
too, to this day, Brahmanical Hindooism principally flourishes, 
its great supporters being the Khas, and, next to them, the Ma- 
gars and Gurungs. For the rest, the population of the kingdom 
of Nepaul is principally Bauddha ; preferring for the most part the 
Tibetan model of that faith : the Newars are the chief exception. 
Between the Buddhism of Tibet and that of Nepaul Proper, (or 
of the Newars) the differences are, 

1st. That the former still adheres to, whilst the latter has re- 
jected, the old monastic institutes of Buddhism ; 2d. that the for- 
mer is still, as of old, wholly unperplexed with caste ; the latter, 
a good deal hampered by it ; and that, lastly, the Tibetan Bud- 
dhism has no concealments, whilst the Nepaulese is sadly vexed 

* These Southern emigrants were refugees fronf Moslem bigotry: and were 
so numerous as to be able to give the impress of their own speech and religion 
to the rude and scattered Highlanders. The prior establishment of Buddhism in 
Nepaul Proper prevented these Brahmanical Southerns from penetrating there, 
where, however, ages before, some Southerns had found a refuge ; these latter 
were Buddhists, fleeing from Brahmanical bigotry. They came to Nepaul Pro- 
per about two centuries after Christ. Buddhism had previously been establish- 
ed therein, and these emigrants were too few to make a sensible impression on 
the speech or physiognomy of the prior settlers, already a dense and cultivated 
population. 



3 



with a proneness to withhold many higher matters of the law from 
all but chosen vessels. 

Connexion of the Language of Nepaul Proper ivith that of 
Tibet. 

I proceed now to indicate that affinity of the language of the 
Newars to the language of the Tibetans which I have already ad- 
verted to. I had extended this vocabulary (in an amplified form) 
to the whole of the languages above-mentioned : but the results 
were, for several reasons, liable to question in detail, so that I 
prefer holding them back for the present, though there can be no 
doubt of the general facts, that these dialects are of northern ori- 
gin, and are closely connected. 

The language of Nepaul Proper or the Newari, has, as already 
intimated, much in common with that of Bhot or Tibet. It is 
however a poorer dialect than that of Lassa and Digarchi ; and 
it has, consequently, been obliged to borrow more extensive aid 
from Sungskrit, whilst the early adoption of Sungskrit as the sole 
language of literature has facilitated this infusion. The following 
is a comparison of a few terms : — 

English. Newari. Bhotiya. 



The World. 


* (S.) Sansar. 


Jambu Ling. 


God. 


(S.) Bhagawan. 


LM. 


Man. 


(S.) Manno, or Majan. 


Khiyoga. 


Woman. 


Misa. 


Pemi. 


Quadruped, 


(S.) Pasu, Pepanchu. 


Tendu. 


Bird, 


Jhongo. 


Djia and Chabi. 


Insect. 


(S.) Kieha. 


Bu. 


A Worm. 


Dalambi. 


Dalabu. 


Fire. 


Mih. 


Mha and Mih. 


Air* 


(S.) Phoy. 


Lha-phii and Lhaw^ 


Earth. 


Cha. 


Sha. 


Water. 


P.Lo.C.Luk. B.Gna. 


Chu.- 


The Sun. 


(S.) Suraj. 


Nima. 


The Moon. 


(S.) Chandrama. 


Dawa. 


The Stars. 


(S.) Nagu. 


Kerma, 



* The (S. ) indicates a Sungskrit origin. 



6 



English. 


Newari. 


Bhotiya, 


A Mountain. 


(S.) Parha. 


Raj hi and Lumba. 


A River. 


Khussi. 


Changbo. 


Father. 


Boba and Opju. 


Ava and Aba. 


Mother. 


Ma, 


Amma. 


Grandfather. 


Adjhu. 


Adjhu. 


Grandmother. 


Adjhama. 


Adzhi. 


A Child. 


Mocha. 


Namu ? Piza. 


A Boy. 


Kay Mocha and Bhaju. 


Phu. 


A Girl. 


Miah Mochu and Meju. 


Pamu. 


Uncle. 


Kakka. 


Aghu. 


Aunt. 


Mamma. 


Ibi, Asa. 


Summer. 


(S.) Tapulla. 


Chapaha. 


Winter. 


Chilla. 


Gun? Khyabu. 


Gram. 


(S.) Ann. 


Soh? Du. 


Rice. 


Jaki, Wa. 


Bra. 


Wheat. 


Cho. 


Tho. 


Barley. 


Tacho. 




Marriage. 


(S.) Biah. 


Pama. 


Birth. 


Macha-Bullo. 


Kesin. 


Death. 


Sito. 


Lhesin. 


A House. 


Chen. 


Khim. 


A Stone. 


Lohu. 


Ghara? To. 


A Brick. 


Appa. 


Arpa. 


Temple. 


(S.) Dewa. 


Lha-Kang. 


An Image. 


Kata Malli, Patima. 


Toto, Thu. 


A Bridge. 


Ta and Taphu. 


Samba. 


A Tree. 


Sima. 


Ston-bba or Tongba. 


A Leaf. 


Sihau and Hau. 


Loma or Lapti. 


A Flower. 


Swang. 


MetOj or Mendo. 


A Fruit. 


Si. 


Brebu. 


A Horse. 


Sallo. 


Tapu or Taba. 


A Bull. 


Doho. 


Sandhi. 


A Cow. 


Masa and Sa. 


Pago. 


A Buffaloe. 


Mia. 


Mye. 


A Dog. 


Khicha. 


Khigo or Khibo, 



7 



English, 


jLVc lUtlf I. 


JDllUllUUt 


A fW 




Gure. 


A Jackal. 


Dhong. 


Kipchang. 


A S I cf pi* 


Kihin. 


Chnmn ? Nm 


A Brother. 


Kinja. 


L/iiou. r ijrnu. 


\_y wii x aiiiiiy. 


XlldJllO OC JL lid IVXdllllll. 


JL 111. 


jvnisiOiK. 


Phnlri 
X 1111K.1. 


jt ileum. 


Oil dllgtilOlK.. 


XVdlO dlltl JJJLldll-JTlllg. 


Chomi. 


Trio T-Toorl 

jl us xxedii. 


Chong. 


V t 11 Ol UrO. 


Tin a TTcnV 

jl lie xxdir. 


Song. 


Tot rvi* To 

xdr, Ol Id. 


I 1 1 / 1 Tit) ( i ft 
JL lit! X dCc. 


lc^,<ad. 


Tongba. 


The Eye. 


Mikha. 


Mhi. 


The Nose 


Gnia. 


Gna 


Thp Month 




Kha 

XVlld. 


The Chin. 


Mano. 


Koma. 


The Ear. 


Nhiapo. 


^ hamio 


jl iic jt oreiieau.. 


Kopa. 


xrdid. 


Jine ijociy. 


±vxno. 


ZdlUDll. 


TTio Arm 

jLiie wtxrin. 


X^dild, JLidppd. 


Ldkpa. 


Tina T on. 

ine i^eg. 


x uti. 


Kangba. 


jnignt. 


J OU. 


X cL)d. 


Left. 


Khou. 


Yenia. 


A Month. 


La. 


La-wa. 


A Year. 


Dat'chi. 


Lochik. 


Day. 


Gni or Nhi. 


Nain. 


Night. 


Cha. 


Chan. 



With regard to the Newari words, I can venture to say they 
may be relied on, though they differ somewhat from Kirkpatrick's, 
whose vocabular}', made in a hurry, exhibits some errors, especi- 
ally that of giving Sungskrit words instead of the vernacular. It 
is remarkable that the Newars, (those that pretend to education, 
and those who are wholly illiterate), are apt to give to a strang- 
er, a Sungskrit, instead of their own Newari, name for any object 
to which their attention is called for the purpose of naming it. 

* Lappa, (almost identical with the Bhotiya Lakpa) means the true arm, ar 
upper half of the limb. Laha means the whole. 



8 



This habit owes its origin to the wish to be intelligible, which the 
Newars know they cannot be in speaking their own tongue.* The 
real poverty of the Newari is, also, no doubt, another cause, and its 
want of words expressive of general ideas : thus, Creation, God, 
have no Newari names, and the Sungskrit ones have therefore been 
borrowed of necessity : the like is true of the word Mankind, for 
which, as well as for the two former words, I have not been able, 
after great pains, to obtain any vernaculars. When a Newar would 
express the idea of God, without resorting to Sungskrit, he is driv- 
en to periphrasis, and says Adjhi Deo, which word is compounded 
of Adjhu, a Grandfather, and Deo ; and thus, by reverence for an- 
cestors, he comes to reverence his maker, whom he calls, literally, 
the father of his father, or the first father. I am quite aware the 
foregone and following meagre examples of Newari will not go 
far to establish the affinity of this language. The subject must be 
reserved for the future ; but, in the mean time, I may observe that 
the northern stock, j" and intimate affinity of Newari and of the 
other dialects before enumerated, (excepting theKhas or Parbattia), 
are written as palpably upon the face of these languages as upon 
the physiognomy, and form of the races who speak them. 

As for the Bhotiya words, I cannot wholly vouch for them, few 
as they are, having obtained them from a Lama, who was but lit- 
tle acquainted with Newari or Parbattia. The majority are, I 
believe, sufficiently accordant with the Lhassa model, but some 
may be dialectically corrupted. Still, however, they will equally 
serve, (as far as they go), to illustrate my assertion that the root 
and stock of Newari are Trans-himalayan and northern ; for there 
are many dialects on both sides of the snows, and some of the in- 

* Oar Hindoo servants of the North "West Provinces learn to speak the Par- 
battia language in a year by merely casual use of it. But they never acquire 
the least use of Newari though they remain here for ten years, inconstant com- 
merce with Newars. This is a simple but satisfactory proof of what is alleged 
in the text as to the essential character of both languages. 

Our people could as soon learn Chinese as Newari : but Parbattia ' comes na- 
tural to them.' 

f Let any one try to refer the Newari words above given, few as they are, to 
any dialect spoken in the plains of India ; and he will be satisfied that he has 
got into a new lingual region, disconnected with the South. 



9 



ferior Tibetan dialects may, very probably, come nearer to Newa- 
ri than the best or that of Lhassa. 

The twelfth word in the Newari column, or Water, is given ac- 
cording to the sub- dialects of the Valley. Water is Lo, at Patan, 
Luk at Katmandu, and Gna, at Bhatgong ; these places being the 
capitals of as many kingdoms before the Gorkha conquest, though 
situated in very close vicinity to each other. 

With respect to the numerals of the decimal scale, the resem- 
blance is strikingly close, 



Numerals. 

Newari* 

Chi. 
Na Shi. 
Swong. 
Pih. 
Gnialu 
Khu. 

Nha or Nhasso, 
Chiah. 
Gun. 



Bhotiya* 

1. Chi. 

2. Gni. 

3. Sum.. 

4. Zhi. 

5. Gnah.. 

6. Tukh, 

7. Tun. 

8. Ghiah. 

9. Gun. 

10. Chu (Thampa, an expletive Sanho. 

merely.) 

11. Chu-chi. Saran-chi. 

12. Chu-gni. Saran Nassu 

13. Chu (P.) sum, (the letter 

(P.) written but scarcely 
audibly uttered.) 
14.. Chu (P.) Zhi. Saran Pih. 

15. Cheanga, Saran Gniah. 

16. Churu. Saran Khu. 

17. Chuptin. Saran Nha. 

18. Chopkia, Saran Chiah. 

19. Churko. Saran Gun. 

20. Ne shu (thampa,) $aran Sanho. 

21. „ „ NiChi. 

B 



10 



Bhotiya. 




Newari. 


22. Ne* sliu (thampa.) 


Ni Nassi. 


23. „ 


» 


Ni Swong. 


24. 




Ni Pih. 


25. 




Ni Gniali. 


26. 


» 


Ni Khu. 


27. 


J? 


NiNhi. 


28. 


?> 


Ni Chiah. 


29. 


>J 


Ni Gun. 


30. Sum chu (thampa.) 


Ni Sanho. 


31. 


?) 


Swi Chi. 


32. 


J> 


Swi Nassi. 


33. 


J> 


Swi Swong. 


34. 


?> 


Swi Pih. 


35. 




Swi Gniah. 


36. 


?5 


Swi Khu. 


37. 




Swi Nha. 


38. 


» 


Swi Chiah. 


39. 


J? 


Swi Gun. 


40. Zhe-chu (thampa.) 


Swi Sanho, 


41. 


J? 


Pi Chi. 


42. 




Pi Nassi. 


43. 




Pi Swong. 


50. Gna-chu (thampa.) 


Gniayu or Pi- Sanho, or merely 






by pausing on the last letter 






of Gniah or 5 : and thus also 






60, 70, &c. are formed out of 






6, 7, &c. 


60. Tukh-chu (thampa.) 


Qui. 


70. Tun 


ditto. 


Nhaiyu. 


80. Gheah 


ditto. 


Chaiye. 


90. Gu (P.) 


ditto. 


Guye. 



100. Gheah (thampa.) Sache\ 

1000. Tong-tha-che. Do-che. 

10,000. Thea. ZM-dot. 

100,000 Bum, Lak-chi. 



Nor is the variation, after passing the ten, of any importance, 
the principle of both being still the same ; that is, repetition and 
compounding of the ordinals ; thus ten and one, ten and two, are 
the forms of expression in both, and so, twice, &c. The Bhotiya 
word thampa, postfixed to the decimally increasing series, is a 
mere expletive, and often omitted in speech. The Newari names 
of the figures from one to ten, as given by Kirkpatrick, are not 
correct, and hence the difference between the Newari and Bhotiya 
names has been made to appear greater than it is : in fact, it 
seems to me, that even the little difference that remains in the 
present specimens may be resolved into mere modes of utterance* 
Although the following offer no verbal resemblances, the principle 
on which they are formed presents several analogies. 

Bhotiya and Newari names of the twelve months. 





Newari. 








Bhotiya. 


February. 








Dagava 


or Lawa (Tangbu.) 


March. 


Chongchola, 


or Chilla. 


(Lawa) 


„ Gnipa. 


ApriL 


Bachola, 


5) 


Nela. 


(Lawa) 


„ Sumba. 


May. 


Tuchola, 


J? 


Swola. 


(Lawa) 


„ Zhiba. 


June. 


Dil'la, 


?> 


Pela. 


(Lawa) 


„ Gnappa. 


July. 


Gung'la, 


JJ 


Gniala. 


(Lawa) 


„ Tuakpu. 


August. 


Yung'la, 


•>•> 


Khola. 


(Lawa) 


„ Tumba. 


September* 


Koula, 


?> 


Nhula* 


(Lawa) 


„ Gnappa. 


October* 


Kozla, 


>J 


Chala. 


(Lawa) 


„ Guabba* 


November. 


Thingla, 


■>•> 


Gungla* 


(Lawa) 


„ Chuba. 


December. 


Puela, 


>J 


Sela. 


(Lawa) 


„ Chu-chikpa* 


January. 


Sella, 


">•> 


Zhin'chala. 


(Lawa) 


„ Chu^gnipa. 


February. 


Chilla, 


J! 


Zhin'nala. 







The second set of Newari names is formed merely by compound- 
ing the word La, a month, with the names of the cardinals, one, 
two, &c. As for the first set of names, there too we have the final 
La ; and the prefixes are mere characteristic epithets of the seasons ; 
thus, February is called Chilla ; but Chilla means also the cold 
month, or winter. 

The Bhotiyas, like the Newars, have no simple names for the 
months, but call them periphrasticaliy the first, &c. month. Da- 

B 2 



12 



wa and Lawa, both mean a month ; but in speech this word is ne- 
ver prefixed, save in speaking of the first Bhotiya month or Fe- 
bruary, for from February their year begins. What Tangbu means, 
I know not, unless it be the same with Thampa, the word that al- 
ways closes the series of numbers, 10, 20, 30, &c. The names 
of all the others are easily explained, they being compounds of 
the numbers 2, 3, &c. with the syllable pa or ba — evidently the 
La of the Newars — postfixed. 



Newari names of the 


seven days 




Bhotiya names of the 


of the week. 






seven day 


s. 


Sunday, (S.) 


Adhwina, 


or 


Chanhu, 


Nima. 


Monday, ■(&) 


Swomwa, 


» 


Nenhu, 


Dawa. 


Tuesday, (S.) 


Ongwa, 




Swonhu, 


Mimer. 


Wednesday, (S.) 


Budhwa, 


» 


Penhu, 


Lhakpa. 


Thursday, (S.) 


Bussowa, 




Gnianhu, 


Phoorboo. 


Friday, (S.) 


Sukrawa, 




Khonhu, 


Pasang. 


Saturday, (S.) 


Sonchowa, 


5J 


Nhainhu, 


Pemba. 



The first of the Newari series are wholly corrupt Sungskrit, 
and the second formed by compounding the word Nhi or Gni, a 
day, with the cardinals : the Newars have no simple words of 
their own, expressive of the seven days. 

A variety of characters is met with in the Nepaulese and Bho- 
tiya books, some of which are now obsolete. A manuscript, of 
which a copy is forwarded, contains a collection of these alphabets, 
each bearing a separate designation. Of the Newari, three kinds 
of letters are most familiarly known, and four of the Bhotiya.* 

Written Characters of Nepaul Proper. 
The three Newari alphabets (so to speak) are denominated 
Bhanjin Mola, Ptanja, and Newari. Whether these three sorts 
of letters were formerly used by the Siva Margi Newars, f I can- 

* See Plates. 

f The Siva Margi or,Brahmanical Newars are very few in comparison of the 
Buddha- Margi. The former boast of a Southern race, and say they came from 
Tirhut in 1322, A. D. A few of them no doubt did: but they were soon 
merged in the prior dense population of Nepaul Proper, and now they are only 
distinguishable by their Brahmanical creed. They do not constitute a twenti- 
eth part of the Newar population. 



— 




j ■ 


H 












z 


1 







3] 






HI 




TT 

n 


M 




\TT 
Ob 

\» 


Jtl 
06 

\o 


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<R 




y 

^3 


*\ ^ 








% 








ct 








H 


H 










an 




7\ 


71 










=i 


















TJ 
























^» 















































k 




°l 










Z 


«\ 




PI 










<k 




7* 

<3 


" \ 


6 







? 


c\ 




TJ 










y 


*{ 


(3 






H 














CASUS 












Si 




1 l 


CI 


u 


TT 




^1 




v* 






















J* 




m 










as 































1 










I 




V3 1 


1 1 
















J) C\ 


ON 

6 


Q 




t 


: 


51 
















® 






% 








n 


ft 




(t 












61 










































S|«l 







































(HIT SO 



S' $ ^ JT * 



Four sorts of Bkotyas Letters 



3f *J'l lUlih.-n 



\ 3 



31 =81 WDJj 9, 

cl Si. 



B ? f- 

M q <M 



^ m ^ ^ 

St T 

PL 

$ & * Si 



1 I % 

g si $ 



"3 q 

51 ft 



3 13 3 



Vmi/ 

!f\ <P «J ^ 

fj a A T 

< e. { t 

\ Jl M 



•N 



.jd n <ti o) 4| <n" 



5 * 



IS' 



^ sTf Lanja 

^ A ^ i ^ 

^ ^ ^ h f[ 



13 



not say ; but old Buddha works exhibit them all, especially the 
two former. Newari alone is now used by both sects of Newars 
for profane purposes ; and for sacred, both often employ the Deva- 
nagari, oftener the Newari. If the Siva Margi Newars ever used 
(which I doubt,) Bhanjin Mola, or Ranja, at least, they do so no 
longer ; and the Newars of the Buddha faith having long ceased 
ordinarily to employ those letters in making copies of their scrip- 
tures, few can now write them, and the learned only (who are ac- 
customed to refer to their old works) can read them with facility. 

In regard to the origin of these letters, we may at once refer 
the Newari to Nagari ; but the other two present at first sight 
more difficulties. Dr. Carey was, some time back, of opinion, that 
they are mere fanciful specimens of caligraphy. This notion is 
refuted by the fact of their extensive practical application, of 
which Dr. Carey was not aware when he gave that opinion. By 
comparing one of them (the Ranja) with the fourth alphabet of 
the Bhotiyas, it will be seen, that the general forms of the letters 
have a striking resemblance. And as this Lanja or Ranja is deem- 
ed exotic by the Bhotiyas, I have no doubt it will prove the same 
with the Newari letters so called : for the words Lanja, Lantza 
and Ranja are one and the same.* Of the Bhanjin Mola, it may be 
observed that it has a very ornate appearance, and, if the orna- 
mental parts were stripped from the letters, they (as well as the 
Ranja) might be traced to a Devanagari origin, from the forms 
of which alphabet the Bauddhas might possibly alter them, in order 
to use them as a cover to the mysteries of their faith. The Baud- 
dha literature is, originally, Indian. Now, though probability 
may warrant our supposing that those who originated it, together 
with its religion, might alter existing alphabetical forms for the 
purpose above hinted at, it will not warrant our conjecturing, that 
they would undergo the toil of inventing entirely new characters. 
All these systems of letters follow the Devanagari arrangement, nor 
should I hesitate to assign them all a Devanagari origin. Indeed 
it is well known to the learned, that there were anciently in the 
plains of India many sorts of written characters, since become ex- 

* See a separate paper on this subject in the sequel. 



'" tinct : and I have no doubt that the letters adverted to were part 
of these. 

Written Characters of Tibet. 
Of the Bhotiya characters, four kinds are distinguishable ; but 
only two of them are known by name to the Newars : they are 
called (in Tibet as well as here) Uchhen and Umen. The first 
are capitals : the second, small letters : the third, running hand : 
and the fourth, as already observed, equivalent with the Nepaulese 
Ranja. There is also a character in use in or near Tibet which 
is ascribed to the Sokhpos, who are said to be a fierce and power- 
ful people, living on the confines of Northern China Proper. 

Literature of Bhot or Tibet. 

The great bulk of the literature of Bhot (as of Nepaul) relates 
to the Bauddha religion* In Bhot the principal works are only 
to be found at the larger monasteries ; but numerous Bhotiya 
books of inferior pretensions, are to be obtained at Katmandu 
from the poor traffickers and monks, who annually visit Nepaul 
on account of religion and trade. 

The character of the great part of these latter, or the Bhotiya 
books procured in Nepaul^ is that of popular tracts, suited to the 
capacity and wants of the humbler classes of society, among whom 
it is a subject of surprise, that literature of any kind should be so 
common in such a region as Bhot, and, more remarkably so, that 
it should be so widely diffused as to reach persons covered with 
filth, and destitute of every one of those thousand luxuries which 
(at least in our ideas) precede the great luxury of books. 

Printing is, no doubt, the main cause of this great diffusion of 
books. Yet the very circumstance of printing being in such ge- 
neral use, is no less striking than this supposed effect of it ; nor 
can I account for the one or other effect, unless by presuming 
that the hordes of religionists, with which that country (Tibet) 
swarms, have been driven by the tedium vitse, to these admirable 
uses of their time. 

The invention of printing, the Bhotiyas got from China ; but 



15 



tlie universal use they make of it is a merit of their own. The poor- 
est individual who visits this Valley from the north is seldom with- 
out his Pothi (book,) and from every part of his dress dangle 
charms (Jantras,) made up in slight cases, the interior of which 
exhibits the neatest workmanship in print. 

Some allowance, however, should also be made for the very fa- 
miliar power and habit of ivriting, possessed by the people at 
large : another feature in the moral picture of Bhot, hardly less 
striking than the prevalence of printing or the diffusion of books, 
and which I should not venture to point out, had I not had suf- 
ficient opportunities of satisfying myself of its truth among the 
annual sojourners in Nepaul who come here in hundreds to pay 
their devotions at the temple of the self-existent Supreme Buddha 
(Swayambhu Adi Buddha). 

In the collections forwarded to the Society will be found a vast 
number of manuscripts — great and small — fragments, and entire 
little treatises — all which were obtained (as well as the small 
printed tracts) from the humblest individuals. Their number and 
variety will, perhaps, be allowed to furnish sufficient evidence of 
what I have said regarding the appliances of education in Tibet, 
if due reference be had, when the estimate is made to the scanty 
and entirely casual source whence the books were obtained in 
such plenty. 

The many different kinds of writing which the MSS. exhibit 
will, perhaps, be admitted yet further to corroborate the general 
power of writing possessed by almost all classes of the people. Or, 
at all events, these various kinds and infinite degrees of penman- 
ship, present a curious and ample specimen of Bhotiya proficiency 
in writing, let this proficiency belong to what class or classes it 
may. 

Something of this familiar possession of the elements of educa- 
tion, which I have just noticed as characterising Bhot, may be 
found also in India ; but more, I fear, in the theory of its insti- 
tutions than in the practice of its present society, because of the 
successive floods of open violence which have, for ages, ravaged 
that, till lately devoted land. The repose of Bhot, on the other 



16 



hand, has allowed its pacific institutions full room to produce their 
natural effect ; and hence we see a great part of the people of 
Bhot able to write and read. 

In whatever I have said regarding the Press, the general power 
and habit of writing, or the diffusion of books, in Bhot, I desire 
to be understood by my European readers with many grains of 
allowance. These words are names importing the most different 
things in the world in the favoured part of Europe, and in Asia. 
The intelligent resident in Hindoosthan will have no difficulty in 
apprehending the exact force which I desire should be attached to 
such comprehensive phrases, especially if he will recollect for a 
moment that the press, writing and books, though most mighty 
engines, are but engines ; and that the example of China proves 
to us indisputably, they may continue in daily use for ages in a 
vast society, without once falling into the hands of the strong man 
of Milton ; and consequently, without awaking one of those many 
sublime energies, the full developement of which in Europe has 
shed such a glorious lustre around the path of man in this world. 

The printing of Bhot is performed in the stereotype manner by 
wooden planks ; which are often beautifully graved : nor are the 
limited powers of such an instrument felt as an inconvenience by 
a people, the entire body of whose literature is of an unchanging 
character. 

The Bhotiya or Tibetan writing, again, often exhibits specimens 
of ready and graceful penmanship. But then it is never employed 
on any thing more useful than a note of business, or more inform- 
ing than the dreams of blind mythology ; and thus, too, the gene- 
ral diffusion of books (that most potent of spurs to improvement 
in our ideas) becomes, in Bhot, from the general worthlessness of 
the books diffused, at least but a comparatively innocent and 
agreeable means of filling up the tedious hours of the twilight of 
civilization. 

With respect to the authorities of the Buddhist religion or their 
sacred scriptures, the universal tradition of the Nepaulese Bud- 
dhists, supported by sundry notices in their existing works, asserts, 
that the original body of these scriptures amounted, when com- 



17 



plete, to eighty-four thousand volumes — probably sutras or apho- 
risms, and not volumes in our sense. 

Sungskrit Bauddha Literature of Nepaid Proper. 

The most authoritative of these works are known, collective- 
ly, and individually, by the names Sutra and Dharma, and in a 
work called the Puja Kand there is the following passage: 

" All that the Buddhas have said, as contained in the Maha 
Yana Sutra, and the rest of the Sutras, is Dharma Ratna," or pre- 
cious science. Hence the Scriptures are also frequently called 
" Buddha Vachana," the words of Buddha. Sakya Sinha first re- 
duced these words to order, if indeed he did not originate them ; 
and, in this important respect, Sakya is to Buddhism what Vyasa 
is to Brahmanism. Sakya is the last (if not also the first and only) 
of the seven perfect Buddhas. 

The old books universally assert this ; the modern Bauddhas ad- 
mit it, in the face of that host of ascetics, whom the easiness of 
latter superstition has exalted to the rank of a Tathagata. The 
sacred chronology is content with assigning Sakya to the Kali 
Yuga, and profane chronology is a science which the Buddhas 
seem never to have cultivated.* But the best opinion seems to 
be that Sakya died about five centuries before our sera. In the 
subsequent enumeration, it will be seen that Sakya is the " Speak* 
er" in all the great woAs. This word answers to " hearer," and 
refers to the form of the works, which is, for the most part, that 
of a report of a series of lectures or lessons delivered verbally by 
Sakya to his favourite disciples, but sometimes diverging into di- 
alogue between them. That Sakya Sinha first gave definite form 
to the substance of this creed, such as it has come down to our 
times, is demonstrable from the uniform tenour of that language 
of the great scriptural authorities to which I have adverted : for, 
before or after the enunciation of every cardinal text stand the 
words 4 thus said Sakya Sinha/ or, 4 so commanded Sakya Sinha/ 

* Neither chronology, nor any thing else tangible and appreciable, extends 
beyond the age of Sakya. 

c 



18 



TThe words Tantra and Parana, as expressive of the distinction 
of esoteric and exoteric works, are familiar to the Buddhas of Ne- 
paul ; but it would seem that their own more peculiar names are 
Upadesa and Vyakarana. Gatha, Jataka, and Avadan, seem to be 
rather subdivisions of Vyakarana than distinct classes. 

The word Sutra is explained Mula Grantha, Buddha Vachana, 
(chief book, words of Buddha) and in this sense it has been held 
to be equivalent to the Sruti of the Brahmans, as has their Smriti 
to the Bauddha Vyakarana. But, apt as Buddhism is to forget 
the distinction of divine and human nature, the analogy must be 
defective ; and, in fact, the Sutra of the Buddhists often compre- 
hends not only their own proper Buddha Vachana, but also Bo- 
dhisatwa and Bhikshu Vachana ; which latter the Brahmans would 
denominate Rishi Vachana, and, of course, assign to the Smriti, 
or comments by holy men upon the eternal truth of the Sruti. 

The Newars assert that, of the original body of their sacred li- 
terature, but a small portion now exists. A legend, familiar to 
this people, assigns the destruction to Sankara Acharya ; and * the 
incomparable Sankara' of Sir W. Jones, is execrated by the Ne- 
paulese Buddhas as a blood-stained bigot.* 

Of the existing Bauddha writings of Nepaul (originally of In- 
dian growth and still found unchanged in the Sungskrit language) 
by far the most important, of the speculative kind, are the five 
Khands of the Prajna Paramita or Piacha Bhagavati, each of 
which contains 25,000 distiches. Of the narrative kind, the chief 
are eight of the nine works called the ' Nava Dharma ;' the ninth 
being the Ashta Sahasrika Prajna Paramita. It is a valuable sum- 
mary of the great work first mentioned, to which, therefore, rather 
than to these Dharmas, the Ashta Sahasrika bears essential affini- 
ty. In the sequel will be found a list of all the Sungskrit Bud- 
dha works known to me by name.| 

. * If the age in which Sankara flourished, be fixed with any correctness, he 
could not have been a persecutor of the Buddhists: for Sankara is" placed In the 
eighth century before Christ; and Sakya, the founder of Buddhism, (for we 
have nothing authentic before him, or independent of him) certainly was not 
born sooner than about the middle of the sixth century, B. C. 
f See the nest paper for this li3t. 



19 

The five Rachas or Paramitas are enumerated in order in the 
immediately subsequent detail. They are of highly speculative 
character, belonging rather to philosophy than religion. The cast 
of thought is sceptical in the extreme : endless doubts are started, 
and few solutions of them attempted. Sakya appears surrounded 
by his disciples, by whom the arguments on each topic are chiefly 
maintained, Sakya acting generally as moderator, but sometimes 
as sole speaker. The topics discussed are the great first principles 
of Buddhism j* the tenets of the four schools of Bauddha Philo- 
sophy are mentioned, but those of the Swabhavika alone, largely 
discussed. The object of the whole work seems rather to be proof 
of the proposition,, that doubt is the end as well as beginning, of 
wisdom, than the establishment of any particular dogmas of phi- 
losophy or religion : and from the evidence of this great work 
it would appear, that the old Bauddha philosophers were rather 
sceptics than atheists. 

The nine Dharmas are as follows : 

1. Ashta Sahasrika. 

2. Ganda Vyuha. 

3. Dasa Bhumeswara.. 

4. Samadhi Raja.. 

5. Lankavatara. 

6. Sad Dharma Pundarika.. 

7. Tathagata Guhyaka. 

8. Lalita Vistara. 

9. Suverna Prabhasa. 

Divine worship is constantly offered to these nine works, as the 
Nava Dharma, by the Bauddhas of Nepaul. The aggregation of 
the nine is now subservient to ritual fancies, but it was originally 
dictated by a just respect for the pre-eminent authority and impor- 
tance of these works, which embrace, in the first, an abstract of 
the philosophy of Buddhism ; in the seventh, a treatise on the 
esoteric doctrines ; and in the seven remaining ones, a full illus- 
tration of every point of the ordinary doctrine and discipline^ 



See the sequel at "Religion of Nepaul a.ul Bhot." 
C 2 



20 



taught in the easy and effective way of example and anecdote, in- 
terspersed with occasional instances of dogmatic instruction. With 
the exception of the first, these works are, therefore, of a narra- 
tive kind ; but interwoven with much occasional speculative 
matter. One of them (the Lalita Vistara) is the original autho- 
rity for all those versions of the history of Sakya Sinha, which 
have crept, through various channels, into the notice of Euro- 
peans. 

I esteem myself fortunate in having been first to discover and 
procure copies of these important works. To meditate and di- 
gest them is not for me ; but I venture to hint that by so doing only 
can a knowledge of genuine Buddhism be acquired. Buddhism 
is not simple, but a vast and complicate structure, erected, during 
ages of leisure, by a literary people. It has its various schools 
divided by various Doctors ; nor is the Buddhism of one age less 
different from that of another, than the Brahmanism of the Vedas, 
of the Puranas, and of the Bhagavat. Let it not be supposed, be- 
cause these works were procured in Nepaul, that they are there- 
fore of a local character or mountain origin. 

Such a notion is, in every view, utterly absurd ; for the works 
bear intrinsic evidence of the contrary in almost every page ; and 
their language (Sungskrit,) always wholly exotic in Nepaul, most 
assuredly was never cultivated here with a zeal or ability such as 
the composition of these great works must have demanded. 

These works were composed by the Sages of Magadha,* Kosila,f 
and Rajagriha4 whence they were transferred to Nepaul by Baud- 
dha Missionaries soon after they had assumed their existing shape. 

The Sambhu Purana is the only local work of importance in the 
large collection which I have made. Perhaps it may be surmised, 
that if (as is stated) the fire of Sankara's wrath consumed all, but 
some fragments of the sacred writings of the Buddhists, the ample 
works now produced must be spurious. But, in the first place, 
the legend is but a legend ; and in the next, exaggeration may rea- 



* The modern Bihar. 

f Part of Oude and part of Rohilkhand. 

\ Rajmahal? 



21 



sonably be suspected, both as to number of books then extant and 
destroyed. 

The Bauddhas never had eighty-four thousand principal scrip- 
tures ;* nor could Sankara destroy more than a few of those which 
they really possessed when he came (if he ever came) to Nepaul. 
The proof of the latter statement is — that Buddhism was, long after 
Sankara's time, the prevalent and national faith of the Nepaulese 
Princes and subjects ; and that it is so still in regard to the people, 
notwithstanding the Gorkha conquest. Sankara (or some other 
famous Brahmanical controversist) may have converted, one of the 
Princes of the Valley ; but the others remained Buddhists ; and, 
no doubt, took care of the faith and property of their subjects. All 
old Bauddha works are written in one of the three sorts of letters 
now peculiar to Nepaul Proper, usually in Ranja and Bhanjin 
Mola, and on Palmira leaves. Copies of the Racha Bhagavati or 
Prajna Paramita are very scarce. I am of opinion, after five 
years of enquiry, that there were but four copies of it in the Val- 
ley, prior to my obtaining one copy and a half : one copy more 
I got transcribed from an old one. No one had, for some time, 
been able fully to understand its contents ; no new copy had been 
made for ages ; and those few persons, who possessed one or more 
khands or sections of it, as heir-looms, were content to offer to 
sealed volumes the silent homage of their puja (worship). Time 
and growing ignorance have been the chief enemies of Sungs- 
krit Buddha literature in Nepaul. 

The Bauddha Scriptures are of twelve kinds, known by the 
following twelve names : 1. Sutra ; 2. Geya ; 3. Vyakarana ; 4. Ga- 
tha; 5. Udan ; 6. Nidan; 7. Ityukta ; 8. Jataka; 9. Vaipulya ; 
10. Adbhuta Dharma; 11. Avadan; 12. Upadesa. 

* "We should doubtless read aphorism or text (Sutra or vana), not hook, 
■with reference to the 84.000 in question. The universality of the notion proves 
that this definite number has truth, in some sense, attached to it. 

The primitive meaning' of Sutra (aphorism, or thread of discourse,) im- 
plies that Sakya taught vei'bally ; and if this be so, Sutra only took its present 
sense of principal scripture after his death. These sayings of Sakya may still 
he found all over the sacred works of the sect in their original aphoristic form. 
The destruction of Buddha books adverted to in the text, has, I fancy, refer- 
ence to the plains of India. There it was complete, eventually : but in the 
mean while the most valuable works had been saved in Nepaul, 



22 



Sutras are the principal scriptures, (Mula Grantha) as the 
Racha Bhagavati or Prajna Paramita ; they are equivalent to the 
Vedas of the Brahmanists. 

Get/as, are works of praise, thanksgiving and pious fervour, in 
modulated language. The Gita Go vinda of the Brahmanists is equi- 
valent to the Buddha Gita Pushtaka, which belongs to the Geya. 

Vydkarana are narrative works, containing histories of the se- 
veral births of Sakya prior to his becoming Nirvan ; and sundry 
actions of others who by their lives and opinions have illustrated 
this religion, with various forms of prayer and of praise. Vyaka- 
rana, in the sense of narration, is opposed generally to works of 
philosophy or speculation, such as the Prajna Paramita. It also 
characterises works of an exoteric kind, as opposed to the Upa- 
d6sa or Tantras. 

Gdthas are narrative works, in verse and prose, containing 
moral and religious tales, (An6k Dharmakatha) relative to the 
Buddhas, or elucidative of the discipline and doctrine of the sect. 
The Lalita Vistara, is a Vyakarana of the sort called Gatha. 

Udan, treat of the nature and attributes of the Buddhas, in the 
form of a dialogue between a Buddhist adept and novice. 

Nidan, are treatises, in which the causes of events are shewn ; 
as for example, how did Sakya become a Buddha ? the reason or 
cause ; he fulfilled the Dan, and other Paramitas.* 

Ityukta, whatever is spoken with reference to, and in conclu- 
sion : the explanation of some prior discourse, is Ityukta. 

Jataka, treat of the subject of transmigration or metempsy- 
chosis, the illustrations being drawn from the 550 births of 
S akya. 

Vaipulya, treat of several sorts of Dharma and Artha, that is, 
of the several means of acquiring the goods of this world (Artha) 
and of the world to come (Dharma). 

Adbhuta Dharma, on preternatural events. 

* Paramita here means virtue, the moral merit by which our escape (pas- 
sage) from mortality is obtained. Dan, or charity, is the first of the ten cardi- 
nal virtues of the Buddhas; "and other" refers to the remaining nine. See 
Appendix A. of paper III. 



23 



Avaddn, of the fruits of actions or moral law of Mundane 
existence. 

Upadesa, of the esoteric doctrines equivalent to Tantra, the 
rites and ceremonies being almost identical with those of the Hin- 
doo Tantras, but the chief objects of worship, different, though 
very many of the inferior ones are the same. According to the 
Upadesa, the Buddhas are styled Yogambara and Digambara. 
Tantrika works are very numerous. They are in general disgrac- 
ed by obscenity and by all sorts of magic and doemonology. But 
they are frequently redeemed by unusually explicit assertions of 
a supreme Godhead. Vajra Satwa Buddha is the magnus Apollo 
of the Tantrikas. 

The following is an enumeration of some of the most impor- 
tant individual specimens of the preceding classes. 

First khand, or section, of the Racha or Raksha Bhagavati or 
Prajna Paramita. It is a Maha Yana Sutra Sastra. It begins 
with a relation (by himself) of how Sakya became Bhagavan (dei- 
fied) ; and how he exhorted his disciples to study and meditate 
his principles ; and how he explained the doctrine of Avidya, that 
is, as long as Avidya* lasts, the world lasts, when Avidya ceases, 
(Nirodha) the world ceases ; aliter, Pravritti ends, and Nirvritti* 
begins. Such are the general contents of the former part of this 
khand ; and the latter part of it is occupied with explanations of 
Sunyata and Maha Sunyata.* Sakya is the speaker, the hearers 
are Subhuti, and other Bhikshukas : the style is prose (Gadya). 

Second and third khands of the Raksha Bhagavati. Contents 
the same as above. 

The fourth khand of the Raksha Bhagavati relates, how any one 
becomes Sarvakarmajna, or skilled in the knowledge of all things 
on earth and in heaven ; in a word, omniscient ; besides which, 
the subjects of the former khands are treated of, in continuation, 
in this. 

The fifth khand of the Raksha Bhagavati. Besides Avidya, 

* See the explanation of these terms in the sequel. They form the basis of 
the philosophy of Buddhism. 



24 



Sunyata, and all the other great topics of the prior khands, this 
khand contains the names of the Buddhas, and Bodhisatwas. 

These five khands or divisions are each called Pancha, Vingsati, 
Sahasrika, Prajna Paramita ; the three first words indicating the 
extent of each division, and the two last, the nature of the sub^ 
ject or transcendental wisdom. Sata Sahasrika is a collective name 
of the four first khands, to which the fifth is not necessarily ad^ 
junct ; and indeed it is apparently an abstract of the Sata Sahas^- 
rika. Arya Bhagavati and Raksha Bhagavati, or holy Goddess 
and Goddess of Deliverance, are used, indifferently with Prajna 
Paramita, as titles of each or all of these five khands. The five 
khands are all in prose, and comprise the philosophy of Buddhism. 

Ashtasahasrika Prajna Paramita, a Maha Yana Sutra. An 
epitome of the transcendental topics discoursed of at large in the 
Racha Bhagavati. It is prose. Sakya is the speaker ; and Sub- 
huti and other Bhikshukas,* the hearers. 

Ashta Sahasrika Vyakhya. 

This is a comment on the last work by Hara Bhadra, in verse 
and prose. 

Ganda Vyuha, a Vyakarana Sastra, contains forms of suppli- 
cation and of thanksgiving, also how to obtain Budhijuyan, or 
the wisdom of Buddhism. Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Sudhana 
Kumara. 

Dasa Bhumeswara, a Vyakarana, containing an account of the 
ten Bhumis.f Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda Bhikshu- 
ka. 

Samadhi Raja, a Vyakarana ; an account of the actions by 
which the wisdom of Buddhism is acquired, and of the duties of 
Budhisatwas. Prose speaker, Sakya, and hearers, Havana and 
others. 

Sad Dharma Pundarika, a Vyakarana, an account of the Maha 
and other Dipa Danas, or of the lights to be maintained in ho- 

* Bhikshu, mme of a Buddhist mendicant. See on to section on Religion, 
f Ten heavens, or ten stages of perfectibility. 



25 



nour of the Buddhas, and Bodhisatwas ; with narrations of the 
lives of several former Buddhas by Sakya, as well as prophetic 
indications of the future eminence of some of his disciples. Speak- 
ers and hearers, Sakya, Maitreya, Munjusri, &c. 

Lalita Vistara. This is a Vyakarana of the sort called Gatha. 
It contains a history of the several births of Sakya, and how, in 
his last birth, he acquired perfect wisdom, and became Buddha. 
Verse and prose speaker, Sakya ; hearers, Maitreya and others. 

Guhya Samagha, otherwise called Tathagata Guhyaka, an 
Upadesa or Tantra ; contains numerous mantras, with explana- 
tions of the manner of performing esoteric rites. Prose and verse 
speaker, Bhagavan (i. e. Sakya) ; hearers, Vajra Pani Bodhisatwa 
and others. 

Suvarna Prabhasa, a Vyakarana Sastra, discourses by Sakya 
for the benefit of Lakshmi, Saraswati and others ; also an account 
of the Bhagavat Dhatu, or mansions of the deities. Prose and 
verse speaker, Sakya ; hearers, Sitsavi Kumara, the above named 
Goddesses and others. 

Swayambhu Ptirana, the greater ; a Vyakarana of the sort call- 
ed Gatha : an account of the manifestation of Swayambhu or Adi 
Buddha* in Nepaul, and the early history of Nepaul. Verse 
speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda Bhikshuka. 

Swayambhu Purana, the less, a Gatha, summary of the above ; 
an account of Swayambhu Chaitya, (or temple). Verse and prose 
speaker and hearer, as above. 

Karanda Vyuha, an account of Lokeswara Padma Pani. Prose 
speaker and hearer, as above. 

Guna Karanda Vyuha, a Gatha ; an amplification of the above 
in verse. Speaker and hearer, as above. 

Mahavastu, an Avadan Sastra ; an account of the fruits of 
actions, like the Karma Vipaka of the Brahmans. Prose speaker 
and hearer, as before. 

Asoka Avadan ; an account of the Triad, or Buddha Dharma 
Sangha, also of the Chaityas, with the fruits of worshipping them. 
Verse speaker, Upagupta Bhikshuka ; hearer, Asoka Raja. 

* Swayambhu means self-existent. Adi, first, and Buddha, wise. 

D 



26 



Bhadra Kalpika, an Avadan Sastra; a detailed account of 
the Buddhas, past and to come. Verse and prose speaker, Sakya ; 
hearers, Upagupta Bhikshuka, with a host of immortals and mor- 
tals. 

Jdtaka Mala ; an account of the meritorious actions of Sakya 
in his several births, prior to his becoming a Tathagata. Verse 
and prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda Bhikshu. 

Manichura, an Avadan ; an account of the first birth of Sakya, 
and of the fruits of his actions. Prose speaker and hearer, as 
above. 

Dwavinsati Avadan, an Avadan Sastra; an account of the 
fruits of building, worshipping and circumambulating* Chaityas. 
Verse and prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Maitreya. 

Nandi Mukha Swaghosha, an Avadan ; an account of the great 
fast called Vasundhara, and of the fruit of observing it. Prose 
speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda. 

Bodhi-charya, an Avadan Sastra, of the sort called Kavya ; 
contains a highly laudatory account of the virtue of charity and 
of the Bodhi-Charya, or Buddhist duties. Verse speaker, Mai- 
treya ; hearer, Sudhana Kumara. 

Karuna-Pundarika, an Avadan ; an account of Arinemi Raja ; 
of Samudra Renu, Purohit ; of Ratna Garbha, Tathagata ; and 
of Avalokiteswara, (i. e. Padma Pani Bodhisatwa) interspersed 
with sundry philosophical topics which are discussed by Sakya in 
a broken manner. Sakya, then, in anticipation of his demise, gives 
directions as to the mode in which his system is to be taught. 
Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearers, Maitreya, &c. 

Chandomrita Mala, a treatise of prosody ; the measures illus- 
trated by verses laudatory of Sakya Sinha. Verse and prose : 
the author Amrita Bhikshu. 

Lokesivara Sataka, a hundred verses in praise of Padma Pani. 
Verse author, Vajra Datta Bhikshu. 

* This circumambulation is one of the commonest and most pious actions of 
Buddhist devotion. Mental prayers are repeated all the while, and a small cy- 
linder fixed upon the upper end of a short staff or handle, is held in the right 
hand and kept in perpetual revolution. 



27 



Saraka Dhdra, with a comment ; a Kavya in praise of Arya 
Tara, Buddha Sakti. Verse : author, Sarvajna Mitrapada, Bhikshu. 

Aparamita Dharani, an Upadesa ;* contains many Dharanis ad- 
dressed to the Buddhas, who are immortal (Aparamitayusha Ta- 
thagata). Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda Bhikshu. 

Dharani Sangraha, a collection of Dharanis, as Maha Vairo- 
chans D. Maha Manjusris D. and those of many other Buddhas 
and Buddhisatwas. Verse speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Vajra Pani. 

Pancha Rakshd, an Upadesa Dharani ; an account of the five 
Buddha Saktis, called Pratisara, ho,.\ Prose speaker, Sakya; 
hearer, Ananda. 

Pratyangira Dharani, an Upadesa Dharani; an account of 
Pratyangira Buddha Sakti. Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Anan- 
da Bhikshu. 

Tdrd Satnama, an Upadesa Dharani, contains an account of 
Arya Tara, of her hundred names, her Vija mantras, &c. Verse 
speaker, Padma Pani ; hearer, Vajra Pani.. 

Sugatavaddn, an Avadan Sastra, contains an account of the 
feast kept in honor of Sanghas or Buddhisatwas. Verse speaker,, 
Vasundhara Buddhisatwa ; hearer, Pushpaketu Rajkumar. 

Sukhavati Loka, account of the so called heaven of Amitabha 
Buddha. Verse speaker, Sakya ; hearers, Ananda and others. 

Saptavdra Dharani, an Upadesa of the sort termed Dharani ; 
an account of the seven Devis (Buddha Saktis) called Vasundha- 
ra, Vajra Vidarini, Ganapati Hridaya, Ushnisha Vijaya, Parna 
Savari, Marichi, Graha Matrika, together with their Vija man- 
tras. Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearers, Ananda and others. 

Sriya Sangraha, an Upadesa ; an account of the Tantrika ri- 
tual. Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearers, Vajra Pani, &c. resembles 
the Mahodadhi of the Brahmans. 

Sumaghdvadan, an Avadan Sastra ; an account of the heaven 

* Dharani, though derived from the Upadesa, are exoteric. They are short 
significant forms of prayer, similar to the Panchanga of the Brahmans. Who 
ever constantly repeats or wears (made up in little lockets) a dharani, possesses 
a charmed life. 

f See classified enumeration of the principal objects of Buddhist worship. 

D 2 



23 



(Bhuvan) of the Bhikshukas ; near the close is a story of the 
merchant Sumagha and his wife, whence the name of the work. 
Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda. 

ChaUya Pungava, an Avadan on the worship of the Chaityas. 
Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Suchetana Bhikshuka. 

Kathinavadan, an Avadan Sastra ; containing an account of 
the merit and reward of giving the Pindapatra,* Khikshari, Chi- 
vara and Nivasa to Bhikshukas. Prose speaker, Sakya ; hearer, 
Kasyapa Bhikshu. 

Pindapatravaddn, an account of the begging platter of the 
Bhikshus, and of the merit of bestowing it to them. Prose 
speaker and hearer, as above. 

Dhwajdgra Keyuri, an Upadesa, or Tantra Dharani ; an ac- 
count of Dhwajagra Keyuri, Buddha Sakti. Prose speaker, 
Sakya ; hearer, Indra Deva (the god). 

Graha Matrika, a Tantra Dharani ; account of Graha Matrika, 
Buddha Sakti. Speaker, Sakya ; hearer, Ananda Bhikshu. 

Ndgapujd, a manual of worship to the Nagas for rain. It is 
extracted from the Sadhana Mala. It is of the same character 
as the Vrata Paddhati of the Brahmans. 

Mahakdla Tantra, an Upadesa ; account of the worship to be 
paid to Mahakala. Prose, Vajra Satwa Bhagavan (i. e. Buddha) ; 
speaker and hearer, his Sakti, named Vajra Sattwatmaki. 

Abhidhdnottarottara, an Upadesa; account of the exoteric 
rites. Prose speaker, Vajra Satwa Bhagavan ; hearer, Vajra Pani. 
The rites prescribed by this book resemble in character the 
Saiva ritual, and differ from it only in being addressed to differ- 
ent objects. 

Vinaya Sutra, Treatise on Discipline. Author, Chandra Kirti 
Acharya. It is equivalent to the Vyasa Sutra of the Brahmans. 

Kalpalatdvaddn, an Avadan, a highly ornate account of the 
first birth of Sakya, and of the fruits of his actions in that birth. 
Verse : author, Kshemendra Bhikshu. 

* The begging platter, staff, and slender habiliments of the Buddha mendi- 
cant are called by the names in the text. The Chivara is the upper, the Nivasa 
the lo-ffer, garb. 



29 



Gita Pushtaka, a Geya ; a collection of songs on Tantrika 
topics, by various hands. 

Stotra Sangraha, the praises of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. 
In verse of various measures and by various authors. 

Divydvadcm, an Avadan Sastra, containing various legends of 
the first birth of Sakya. Verse and prose speaker, Sakya ; hear- 
ers, Ananda Bhikshu and others.* 

BJiote Literature in the language of Tibet. 
The following list of a more miscellaneous description. 

Bhotiya Works. 

Name, Sumachik ; author, Thula Lama ; place where written, 
Khanam in Bhote ; subject, Jurisprudence. 

Name, Chama Dam ; author, Aguchu Lama ; place, Tija 
Nowa ; subject, similar to the Sagun Pothi of the Hindoos. 

Name, Charug ; author, Thiya Lama ; place, Gejaketha ; sub- 
ject, the Jnyan Pothi of the Hindoos, or divine wisdom. 

Name, Churuge Chapah ; author, Yepah Regreh Maha Lama ; 
place, Pargreh ah chu ; subject, cure of all diseases. 

Name, Tuchurakh ; author, Suka Lama ; place, Jab-la Denuk ; 
subject, read by mendicant monks to prosper their petition for 
alms. 

Name, Mani Pothi; author, Chufil Lama; place, Gumewan; 
subject, the use and virtue of the mani or praying cylinder. 

Name, Chii Dam ; author, Gevighup Lama ; place, Yeparkas \ 
subject, medicine. 

Name, Napache Pothi ; author, Aberak Lama ; place, Jatu 
Lam ; subject, physical science, or the winds, rain, weather. 

Name, Kichak ; author, Kiluah Lama ; place, Botehi ; subject, 
witchcraft, demonology, &c. 

Name, Tui takh lu ; author, Rakachandah Lama ; place, Ku- 
bakh ; subject, science of war. 

* Since the above was composed, I have added greatly to my stock of S tings - 
rtt works. For their names, see the list appended to nest paper — Note of 
1837. 



30 



Name, Dutakh-a-si ; author, Bajaehik Lama ; place, Gnama ; 
subject, read by survivors on the death of a relation, that they 
may not be haunted by his ghost. 

Name, Serua-takh ; author, Takachik Lama ; place, Yipurki. 
To be read by travellers, during their wanderings, for the sake of 
a safe return. 

Name, Sata-tu-mah ; author, Yisahsekar Lama ; place, Seb- 
hala ; subject, read previous to sitting on a panchaet for a pros- 
perous issue thereof. 

Name, Kerikh ; author, Amadatakh Lama ; place, Asi ; sub- 
ject, to be read for increase of temporal goods. 

Name, Numbeh ; author, Titakh Lama ; place, Bere-ga-hakh ; 
subject, to be read at times of gathering flowers for worship. 

Name, Dekmujah ; author, Muntake-tan Lama ; place, Mun- 
ka ; subject, to be read previous to laying the foundation of a 
house. 

Name, Thaka-pah ; author, Gagamatakh Lama ; place, Ma- 
cha-lekoh ; subject, to be read whilst feeding the sacred fishes at 
the temples ; a very holy act. 

Name, Kusa ; author, Nemachala Lama ; place, Yeparenesah ; 
subject, to be read at the time of bathing. 

Name, Lahassa-ki-pothi ; author, Uma Lama ; place, Lassa ; 
subject, to be read before eating, while dinner is serving up, to 
keep off wicked spirits. 

Name, Chandapu ; author, Grahah Lama ; place, Jubu-nasah ; 
subject, to be read previous to making purchases. 

Name, Sachah ; author, Urjanh Lama ; place, Jadun ; subject, 
to be repeated whilst exonerating themselves, that no evil spirit 
may come up. 

Name, Bachah ; author, Jahadegh Lama ; place, Maharah ; 
subject, to be read by lone travellers, in forests and bye-ways, for 
protection. 

Name, Kajaw ; author, Olachavah Lama ; place, Karah ; sub- 
ject, to be read by a dead man's relatives to free his soul from pur- 
gatory. 

Name, Yidaram ; author, Machal Lama ; place, Sadurl ; sub- 



31 



ject, to facilitate interviews, and make them happy in their 
issues. 

Name, Ditakh ; author, Chopallah Lama ; place, Urasikh ; sub- 
ject, to interpret the ominous croaking of crows, and other inaus- 
picious birds. 

Name, Karachakh ; author, Khuchak Lama ; place, Pheragiah. 

Name, Chalah ; author, Gidu Lama ; place, Bidakh ; subject, 
to be read at the time of drinking, that no ill may come of the 
draught. 

Name, Kegu ; author, Tupathwo Lama ; place, Kabajeh ; sub- 
ject, for increase of years, and a long life. 

Name, Chabeh ; author, Akabeh Lama ; place, Ari Kalaguh ; 
subject, to be read for removing the inclemencies of the season. 

Name, Kaghatukh ; author, Sugnah Lama ; place, Bole Ka- 
char; subject, to be read by horsemen, at seasons of journies 
that they may come to no harm. 

Name, Luchu ; author, Nowlah Lama ; place, Chagura Kahah ; 
subject, to be read for increase of eloquence and knowledge of 
languages. 

Name, Ghikatenah ; author, Sujanah Lama ; place, Seakuhah ; 
subject, to be read by archers for success of their craft. 

Name, the Baudh Pothi, or history of the founding of the Tem- 
ple of Kasachit in Nepaul, with other matters appertaining to 
Buddhism in Nepaul. 

Name, Siri Pothi ; author, Bistakow Lama ; place, Jamatakh ; 
a general form of prayer for rich and poor, sick and healthy, man 
and woman. 



The latter of these lists (of Bhotiya books) is a mere thing of 
shreds and patches, and, in fact, I have no means of enumerating 
the standard works of Tibetan literature. But I have no doubt 
that Tibet is indebted for its literature to Buddha Missionaries, 
and Refugees from Hindustan. These individuals carried with 
them, and subsequently procured from India, many of the sacred 
and profane works of their sect., and, as was their wont, they im- 



32 



mediately began to instruct the people of Bhot in their own, that 
is, in the Sungskrit, letters and language. They had, no doubt, 
some success in this measure in the first period of their emigra- 
tion into Bhot ; but, in the end, the difficulties of Sungskrit, and 
the succession of Native teachers to the chairs of the original In- 
dian emigrants, led to the preference of the Bhotiya language, and, 
consequently, to a translation of all the Sungskrit works they had, 
and could obtain from India, into the vernacular tongue of the 
country. This resort to translation took place very early ; a cir- 
cumstance which, aided by the .lapse of time, and the further de- 
cline of the original literary ardour, inspired by the Indian Refu- 
gees, produced, at no distant period from the decease of the first 
Indian teachers, the oblivion of Sungskrit, and the entire super- 
cession of original Sungskrit versions by translations into Tibetan. 
The Bhotiyas,* however, although they thus soon lost the Sungs- 
krit language, retailed the Deva Nagari letters. The result of the 
whole is, that the body of Bhotiya literature npw is, and long has 
been, a mass of translations from Sungskrit ; its language, native ; 
its letters, (like its ideas,) Indian. To support this view of the 
case, I have to observe, that even the Nepaulese, much nearer as 
they are to India, and much more cultivated in some respects as 
they are, have resorted extensively to vernacular comments, and 
even translations of their books, which also are Sungskrit ; and 
that, although the Newars have a good language of their own, they 
have no letters, but such as are clearly of Deva Nagari origin, 
and declared by themselves to be so : that all the Bhotiyas, with 
whom I have conversed, assure me that they got all their know- 
ledge from India ; that their books are translations ; that the ori- 
ginals, here and there, still exist in Bhot, but that now no one can 
read them ; lastly, that most of the great Bhotiya classics pro- 
claim, by their very names, the fact.f These remarks are appli- 

* Bhot is the Sungskrit, and Tihet the Persian, name of the country. The 
native name is Bot-pa, a mere corruption of the Sungskrit appellation, proving 
that the Tibetans had not reached a general designation for their country when 
their Indian teachers came among them. 

| Note of 1837. It is needless now to say, how fully these views have been 

con- 



3,) 



ed, of course, to the classics of Bhot, for, in regard to works of 
less esteem there, I believe such to be not translations, but origi- 
nals ; chiefly legends of the Lamas, and in the vernacular tongue, 
(the best dialect of which is that spoken about Lassa and Digar- 
chi,) but still, like the translated classics, written in letters es- 
sentially Indian, 

Religion of Nepaul and of Bitot. 

An accurate and complete view of the Bauddha system of be* 
lief would involve the severe study of a number of the voluminous 
Sungskrit works above specified, and would demand more time 
than could be bestowed upon the task by any person, not other- 
wise wholly unemployed. A few observations must, therefore, 
suffice in this place on the religious notions of the Bauddhas of 
this part of India, and in making them I shall keep chiefly in view 
the facilitation of the study of a new subject on the part of those 
who may find time and courage to explore the great and new mine of 
Sungskrit literature which it has been my fortune to discover in 
Nepaul. 

Speculative Buddhism embraces four very distinct systems of 
opinion respecting the origin of the world, the nature of a first 
cause, and the nature and destiny of the soul. 

These systems are denominated, from the diognostic tenet of 
each, Swabhavika, Aishwarika, Yatnika, and Karmika ; and each 
of these, again, admits of several sub-divisions, comprising divers 
reconciling theories of the later Bauddha teachers, who, living in 
quieter times than those of the first Doctors, and instructed by 
the taunts of their adversaries, and by adversity, have attempted 
to explain away what was most objectionable, as well as contra- 
dictory, in the orginal system. 

The Swabhavikas deny the existence of immateriality ; they 
assert that matter is the sole substance, and they give it two modes, 

confirmed by the researches of De Coros. It is but justice to myself to add that 
the real nature of the Kahgyur and St;mgyur was expressly stated and proved 
by me to the Secretary of the Asiatic Society some time before Mr. De Coros' 
ampler revelations were made. 

E 



34 



called Pravritti, and Nirvritti, or action and rest, concretion and 
abstraction. Matter, they say, is eternal as a crude mass (how- 
fever infinitesimally attenuated in Nirvritti); and so are the powers 
of matter, which powers possess not only activity, but intelligence. 
The proper state of existence of these powers is that of rest, and 
of abstraction from every thing palpable and visible, (Nirvritti), 
in which state they are so attenuated, on the one hand, and so in- 
vested with infinite attributes of power and skill on the other, 
that they want only consciousness and moral perfections to be- 
come gods. When these powers pass from their proper and en- 
during state of rest into their casual and transitory state of ac- 
tivity, then all the beautiful forms of nature or of the world come 
into existence, not by a-divine creation, nor by chance, but spon- 
taneously ; and all these beautiful forms of nature cease to exist, 
when the same powers repass again from this state of Pravritti, or 
activity, into the state of Nirvritti, or repose. 

The revolution of the states of Pravritti* and Nirvrittif is 
eternal, and with them revolve the existence and destruction of 
nature or of palpable forms. The Swabhavikas are so far from 
ascribing the order and beauty of the world to blind chance, that 
they are peculiarly fond of quoting the beauty of visible form as a 
proof of the intelligence of the formative powers ; and they infer 
their eternity from the eternal succession of new forms. But they 
insist that these powers are inherent in matter, and not impressed 
on it by the finger of God, that is, of an absolutely immaterial be- 
ing. Inanimate forms are held to belong exclusively to Pravritti, 
and therefore to be perishable ; but animate forms, among which 
man is not distinguished sufficiently, are deemed capable of be- 
coming by their own efforts associated to the eternal state of Nir- 
vritti ; their bliss in which state consists of repose or release from 
an otherwise endlessly recurring migration through the visible 
forms of Pravritti. Men are endowed with consciousness, as well, 

* Pra, an intensitive prefix ; and Vritti, action, avocation, from va to blow 
as the wind. 

f Nir, a privitive prefix, and Vritti as before* 



I believe, of the eternal bliss* of the rest of Nirvritti, as of the 
ceaseless pain of the activity of Pravritti. But these men who 
have won the eternity of Nirvritti, are not regarded as rulers of 
the universe, which rules itself; nor as mediators or judges of 
mankind still left in Pravritti ; for the notions of mediation and 
judgement are not admitted by the Swabhavikas, who hold every 
man to be the arbiter of his. own fate — good and evil in Pra- 
vritti being, by the constitution of nature, indissolubly linked to 
weal and woe; and the acquisition of Nirvritti being, by the 
same inherent law, the inevitable consequence of such an enlarge- 
ment of his faculties, by habitual abstraction, as will enable a 
man to know what Nirvritti is. To know this, is to become om- 
niscient, a Buddha ; to be divinely worshipped as such, while yet 
lingering in Pravritti ; and to become, beyond the grave, or in 
Nirvritti, all at least that man can become, an all respecting which 
some of the Swabhavikas have expressed much doubt, while 
others of them have insisted that it is eternal repose, and not 
eternal annihilationf (Sunyata) ; though, adds this more dog- 
matical school, were it even Sunyata, it would still be good ; 
man being otherwise doomed to an eternal migration through all 
the forms of nature; the more desirable of which are little to be 
wished ; and the less so, at any price to be shunned. 

From the foregoing sketch it will be seen, that the most diog- 
nostic tenets of the Swabhavikas are, the denial of immateriality, 
and the assertion that man is capable of enlarging his faculties to 
infinity. The end of this enlargement of human faculties is asso- 
ciation to the eternal rest of Nirvritti, respecting the value of which 
there is some dispute ; and the means of it are, Tapas and Dhyan ; 
by the former of which terms, the Swabhavikas understand, not 
penance, or self-inflicted bodily pain, but a perfect rejection of 
all outward (Pravrittika) things ; and, by the latter, pure mental 

* The prevalent doctrine is, that they are; some doctors, however, say no ; 
the question turns on the prior acceptation of Sunyata, for which see on. 

f This interpretation of the Swabhavika Sunyata is not the general one, though 
the opponents of Buddhism have attempted to make it so ; for the prevalent 
sense of the word among - the Buddhas, see on. 

E 2 



abstraction. In regard to physics, the Swabhavikas do not re- 
ject design or skill, but a designer, that is, a single, immaterial, 
self-conscious being, who gave existence and order to matter by 
volition. They admit what we call the laws of matter, but in- 
sist that those laws are primary causes, not secondary ; are inherent 
eternally in matter, not impressed on it by an immaterial creator. 
They consider creation a spontaneity, resulting from powers which 
matter has had from all eternity, and will have to all eternity. 
So with respect to man, they admit intellectual and moral powers, 
but deny that immaterial essence or being, to which we ascribe 
those powers. Animate and inanimate causation, they alike attri- 
bute to the proper vigour of nature, or Swabhava. I believe the 
Swabhavika to be the oldest school of Buddhist philosophy ; but 
that school has, from the earliest times, been divided into two 
parties, one called the Swabhavikas simply, whose tenets I have 
endeavoured to state above, the other termed the Prajnika Swabha- 
vikas, from Prajna,* the supreme wisdom ; viz. of nature. 

The Prajnikas agree with the Swabhavikas, in considering mat- 
ter as the sole entity, in investing it with intelligence as well as 
activity, and in giving it two modes, or that of action and that of 
rest. But the Prajnikas incline to unitize the powers of matter 
in the state of Nirvritti ; to make that unit, deity ; and to consider 
man's summum bonum, not as a vague and doubtful association 
to the state of Nirvritti ; but as a specific and certain absorption 
into Prajna, the sum of all the powers, active and intellectual, of 
the universe. The Aishwarikas admit of immaterial essence, 
and of a supreme infinite, and self-existent Deity (Adi Buddha) 
whom some of them consider as the sole deity and cause of all 
things, while others associate with him a coequal and eternal ma- 
terial principle ; believing that all things proceeded from the joint 
operation of these tivo principles. The Aishwarikas accept the two 
modes of the Swabhavikas and Prajnikas, or Pravritti and Nirvrit- 
ti. But, though the Aishwarikas admit immaterial essence, and 

* Pi-ajna, from pra, an intensitive prefix, and Jnyana, wisdom, or perhaps, the 

simpler jna. 



o7 



a God, they deny his providence and dominion ; and though they 
believe Moksha to be an absorption into his essence, and vaguely 
appeal to him as the giver of the good things of Pravritti, they 
deem the connection of virtue and felicity in Pravritti to be inde- 
pendent of him, and the bliss of Nirvritti to be capable of being 
won only by their own efforts of Tapas and Dhyan, efforts which 
they too are confident will enlarge their faculties to infinity, will 
make them worthy of being worshipped as Buddhas on earth, and 
will raise them in heaven, to an equal and self-earned participation 
of the attributes and bliss of the Supreme Adi Buddha; for 
such is their idea of Moksha, or absorption into him, or, I should 
rather say, of union with him. All the Bauddhas agree in re- 
ferring the use and value of mediation, (earthly and heavenly,) 
of the rights and duties of morality, and of the ceremonies of reli- 
gion, solely to Pravritti, a state which they are all alike taught to 
contemn ; and to seek, by their own efforts of abstraction, that 
infinite extension of their faculties, the accomplishment of which 
realizes, in their own persons, a godhead as complete as any of 
them, and the only one which some of them will acknowledge. 
The Karmikas and Yatnikas derive their names, respectively, from 
Karma, by which I understand conscious moral agency, and Yat- 
na, which I interpret conscious intellectual agency. I believe these 
schools to be more recent than the others, and attribute their origin 
to an attempt to rectify that extravagant quietism, which, in the 
other schools, stripped the powers above, (whether considered as 
of material or immaterial natures,) of all personality, providence 
and dominion ; and man, of all his active energies and duties. 
Assuming as just, the more general principles of their predeces- 
sors, they seem to have directed their chief attention to the phce- 
nomena of human nature, to have been struck with its free will, 
and the distinction between its cogitative and sensitive powers, 
and to have sought to prove, notwithstanding the necessary moral 
law of their first teachers, that the felicity of man must be secur- 
ed, either by the proper culture of his moral sense,* which was the 

* Notwithstanding these sentiments, which are principally referable to the 

state 



38 



sentiment of the Karinikas, or, by the just conduct of his under- 
standing, a conclusion which the Yatnikas preferred: and this, 
I believe to be the ground of distinction between these two schools 
as compared with one another. As compared with their predeces- 
sors, they held a closer affinity with the Aishwarikas than with 
the other schools, inclined to admit the existence of immaterial 
entities, and endeavoured to correct the absolute impersonality 
and quiescence of the Causa Causarum, (whether material or 
immaterial,) by feigning Karma or Yatna, conscious moral, or con- 
scious intellectual agency, to have been with causation from the 
beginning. The Karmika texts often hold such a language as 
this, " Sakya Sinha, who, according to some (the Swabhavikas), 
sprang from Swabhava, and, according to others, (the Aishwa- 
rikas,) from Adi Buddha, performed such and such Karmas, and 
reaped such and such fruits from them." 

In regard to the destiny of the soul, I can find no essential dif- 
ference of opinion between the Bauddha and the Brahmanical sages. 
By all, metempsychosis and absorption are accepted. But absorb- 
ed into what ? into Brahme, say the Brahmans, into Sunyata, or 
Swabhava, or Prajna, or Adi Buddha, say the various sects of the 
Buddhists. And I should add, that by their doubtful Sunyata, I 
do not, in general, understand annihilation, nothingness, but ra- 
ther that extreme and almost infinite attenuation which they as- 
cribe to their material powers of forces in the state of Nirvritti, 
or of abstraction from all particular palpable forms, such as com- 
pose the sensible world or Pravritti. By tracing the connexion 
of Sunyata with Akash, and, through it, with the more palpable 
elements, in the evolution and revolution of Pravritti, it may be 
plainly seen, that Sunyata is the ubi and the modus of primal 
entity in the last and highest state of abstraction from all particular 
modifications such as our senses and understanding are cogni- 
zant of. 

■ How far, and in what exact sense, the followers of these 
diverse and opposite systems of speculation adopted the innumera- 

state of Pravritti, the Karmikas and Yatnikas still held preferentially to the 
Tapas and JDhyan, the severe meditative asceticism, of the older schools. 



39 



ble deities of the existent Buddhist Pantheon, it must rest with 
future research accurately to determine. For my part, I have 
no stomach for the marshalling of such an immense, and for the 
most part useless, host.* But some of the principal objects of 
worship, with their relation and connexion, may be noticed. The 
leading, and most fundamental association of these objects is, 
that of the triad, or three persons named Buddha, Dharma, and 
Sangha. In the transcendental and philosophic sense, Buddha 
means mind, Dharma, matter, and Sangha, the concretion of the 
two former in the sensible or phoenomenal world. In a practical 
and religious sense, Buddha means the mortal author of this re- 
ligion (Sakya), Dharma, his law, and Sangha, the congregation of 
the faithful. 

The triad is liable to a theistic or atheistic interpretation in 
the higher or philosophic sense, according as Buddha is preferred 
or postponed to Dharma. 

The next, and a very marked distinction of persons, is establish- 
ed in this creed between those avowed mortals who win the rank 
and powers of a Buddha by their own efforts, and the Buddhas of 
a celestial nature and origin. 

The former of these are sevenf who are all characterised as " Ma- 
nushi" or human ; the latter are five or six, and are contradistin- 
guished as " Anupapadaka," without parents, and also as " Dhy- 
ani," or divine. 

This second appellation of the Celestial Buddhas is derived from 
the Sungskrit name for that abstracted musing which has found 
more or less favour with almost all the Asiatic religionists, but 
which is peculiarly and pre-eminently characteristic of Buddhism. 

The Dhyani Buddhas, with Adi Buddha, their chief, are usually 
and justly referred to the Theistic school. 

The epithet Dhyani, however, as applied to a class of Buddhas, 
is obviously capable of an atheistic interpretation. It is neverthe- 

* See Appendix B of Paper III. for a goodly array. 

f Called Vipusyi, Siklii, Viswabhu, Kakutsanda, Kanakamuni, Kasyapa, and 
S&kya Shiha. 



40 



less certain, that, in whatever sense other schools may admit 
this term, or the class of Divinities which it characterises, the 
Aishwarikas (beyond the bounds of Nepaultoo) ascribe this crea- 
tive Dhyan to a self- existent, infinite, and omniscient " Adi Bud- 
dha," one of whose attributes is the possession of five sorts of 
wisdom. Hence he is called " Panchajnyana Atmika ;" and it 
was by virtue of these five sorts of wisdom, that he, by five suc- 
cessive acts of Dhyan, created, from the beginning and for the 
duration of the present system of worlds, the " Pancha Buddha 
Dhyani." 

The names and graduation of these Jnyans, Dhyans, and Bud- 
dhas are thus : — 

Jnydnas. Dhyanas. Buddhas. 

1. Suvisuddha The Dhyan of creati- 1. Vairochana. 
Dharma Dhatu. on is called by one ge- 2. Akshobhya. 

2. Adarshana. neric name Loka-San- 3. Ratnasambhava. 

3. Prative Kshana. sarjana ; and by five 4. Amitabha.* 

4. Samta. repetitions of this, the 5. Amoghasiddha. 

5. Krityanushthan. five Buddhas were cre- 

ated. 

It might be expected, that the supreme Buddha, having created 
these five celestials, would have devolved on them the active cares 
of the creation and government of the world. Not so, however ; 
the genius of genuine Buddhism is eminently quiescent, and 
hence these most exalted ceons are relieved from the degradation 
of action. Each of them receives, together with his existence, 
the virtues of that Jnyan and Dhyan, to the exertion of which, by 
Adi Buddha, he owed his existence ; and by a similar exertion 
of both, he again produces a Dhyani Bodhisatwa. The Dhyani 
Bodhisatwas are, one by one, in succession, the literary and active 
authors of creation. These creations are but perishable ; and, 

* Original of the Chinese O-mi-to, a word as utterly without meaning- as 
their Bonze, of which latter the Sungskrit Bandya is the real and significant 
form. Amitabha is the immeasurably splendid. Bandya is a person entitled to 
reverence, and the collective or general appellation of all professed or ascetical 
followers of Buddha. 



41 



since the beginning of time, three of them have passed away. 
The present world is, therefore, the work of the fourth Bodhisat- 
wa, who is now Lord of the ascendant, and his worshippers in 
Nepaul are wont to invest him with all the powers of a supreme 
and sole God, the " Prcesens Divus" being, as usual, every thing. 
When the existing system of worlds shall have run its course, the 
offices of creator and governor of the next will be assumed by 
the fifth Bodhisatwa. 

The names and lineage of these Dhyani Bodhisatwas are as 
follows : 

Buddhas. Bodhisatwas. 

1. Vairochana. 1. Samantabhadra. 

2. Akshobhya. 2. Vajra Pani. 

3. Ratnasambhava. 3. Retna Pani. 

4. Amitabha. 4. Padma Pani. 
5* Amoghasiddha. 5. Viswa Pani. 

The Dhyani Buddhas and Bodhisatwas are considered to stand 
in the relation of fathers and sons to each other ; and as there are 
Dhyani Bodhisatwas, so are there Manushi Bodhisatwas, who 
again bear to their respective Manushi Buddhas, the connexion 
of pupil to teacher, of graduate to adept, of the aspirant after the 
wisdom of Buddhism to him who possesses that wisdom. I 
should add, that it is competent for a mortal man to become a 
Buddha,* whilst he yet lingers in the flesh, albeit, the entire ful- 
filment of the rewards, if not of the prerogatives, of that tran- 
scendent character is assigned to a more unearthly state, viz. the 
state of Nirvritti. In the above remarks I have inserted only the 
quinary series of Dhyani Buddhas and Bodhisatwas. But there 
is, also, a series of six, the Buddha Vajra Satwa, and the Bodhi- 
satwa Vajra Pani, being added to the series of five, to perfect the 
larger series. Further, as the five material elements, (1) the five 
senses, (2) and the five respective (outward) objects of sense, (3) 



* Hence th e Divine Lamas of Bhot ; though the original idea has been per- 
verted somewhat. 

(1) Five Bhutas. (2) Five Indviyas. (.3) Five Ayat'anas. 

F 



4.2 



are referred to the series of five Buddhas, so the intellect, (1) with 
apprehension in its kind, (2) and the express objects of such ap- 
prehension, or the moral laws of the universe, (3) are referred to 
Vajra Satwa Buddha. And it should not escape remark, that the 
above associations give somewhat of the dignity of useful know- 
ledge to what must otherwise have been mere voces et prseterea 
nil. 

Nor is there any want of sufficing original authority for the se- 
ries of six Celestial Buddhas,* any more than for the series of 
five, though the latter may be, and perhaps is, the older. Where- 
fore I will take leave in this place to caution the reader against 
exclusive and confined opinions, founded upon any one enumera- 
tion he may find ; as for instance, that of the Pancha Buddha 
Dhyani. Any particular enumeration may have a definite object. 
But that does not imply that any other and larger enumeration, 
also with an express object, is inconsistent with the other series. 
The next material distinction of persons or divinities in this reli- 
gion is into Exoteric or Pouranika Buddhas and Esoteric or Tan- 
trika. The first are those ordinarily so called and alone hereto- 
fore known to us. The second are more specially styled Yogam- 
bara and Digambara : they form the link of connexion between 
Jainism and Buddhism ; and their statues or images are distin- 
guished either by nudity or by a multiplicity of members : they 
are wholly unknown to Europeans. I have already adverted to 
the general character of the Tantrika ritual. It is a strange and 
unintelligible adjunct of Buddhism, though vouched by numer- 
ous scriptural authorities. 

The images of the five Dhyani Buddhas, which have been for- 
warded to the Society, occupy (and exclusively of all lower Bud- 
dhas) the base of every Mahachaitya,f or highest order of temples 
in Nepaul ; and those images are invariably distinguished by the 

(1) Manasa. (2) Dharana. (3) Dharma. 

* E grege the Savva Dharma Mahasanti, said hy Mr. De Coros to be the 
bible of the 4 oldest Buddhist sect in Tibet.' For authorities for Adi Buddha 
and the six Celestial Buddhas, see Quotations in Proof, 1837. 

f Temple and monastery are the respective equivalents of Chaitya and of 
Tihar. 



43 



respective differences exhibited in the specimens transmitted, 
viz. the position of the hands ; the nature of the supporters and 
the particular cognizance or mudra of each, which is placed be- 
tween the supporters. Vairo Chana is seldom figured : the other 
four celestial Buddhas occupy shallow niches at the base of the 
hemisphere of the Chaitya, one opposite each cardinal point. 

The Chaitya would appear to be the only exclusively Buddhist 
form of temple. It consists of a solid hemisphere, commonly sur- 
mounted by a graduated cone or tetragonal pyramid, the grades 
(of the cone or pyramid) being 13, typical of the 13 highest hea- 
vens of Buddhist cosmography. Between the hemisphere and 
the cone or pyramid is a short square basement for the latter, upon 
each of the four sides of which a pair of eyes is graved. The he- 
misphere is called the garbh ; the basement, toran ; and the cone 
or pyramid, chura mani. The Nepaulese are sufficiently familiar 
with Chaityas in the sense of tomb temples or mausolea or covers 
of relics (Dehgopa) : but all their principal edifices of this na- 
ture are dedicated to the self- existent, first, supreme Buddha, and 
to his five celestial ceons. Chaityas are frequently combined 
with small hollow temples, of which they form the superstructure : 
besides which many sacred edifices of Hindoo form are used by 
the Buddhists for enshrining their mortal Buddhas, as well as any 
of the numberless Gods and Goddesses of their ample Pantheon. 
The followers of Buddha are divided into regular and secular — a 
division exactly equivalent to the Grihastha Asram and Vairagi or 
Sunnyasi Asram of the Hindoos — but not equivalent to Laics and 
Clerics. The regulars are all monastic, as solitaries or as coeno- 
bites, living in deserts or in monasteries (Vihar). Their collective 
name is Bandya (person entitled to reverence) ; and they are divided 
into four orders, called Bhikshu or mendicants, Sravaka or readers, 
Chailaka or the scantly robed, and Arhata or Arhanta or Adepts. 
They are all ascetics, and constitute the congregation of the faith- 
ful, or only real Buddhists ; the seculars having always been re- 
garded as little better than heretics, until political ambition began 
to qualify the high-toned enthusiasm of the primitive saints ; and 
until very many having come in who could not all live in idleness, 

F 2 



44 



these were allowed to follow the various business of the world, 
their instruction being provided for by the Monks, some of whom 
thus became invested with a partially clerical character which 
they exercised under the names of Acharya and Vajra Acharya or 
teacher and powerful teacher. 

The following list of Buddhas completes all I have at present 
to offer on the subject. Two lists were prepared for me, some 
time ago, by an old Bauddha of Nepaul, with whom I have long 
cultivated an acquaintance ; but they were then laid aside for fu- 
ture examination and explanation when opportunity should serve. 

I have accordingly had them compared, under my own eyes, 
with the scriptures whence they were extracted, and the compari- 
son has suggested the following brief elucidatory remarks. 

In the first place, the lesser list has proved to be superfluous, 
all its names being contained in the larger one. In the next 
place, the whole number of Buddhas in the greater catalogue has 
been found to amount to one hundred and thirty-one, and not to 
one hundred and forty-five, as stated elsewhere ; the same name 
being repeated, in some instances, two and three times, by reason 
of this catalogue consisting of literal extracts from several inde- 
pendent works. And I have thought it better to leave it in sta- 
tu quo, than to omit sundry names of one series because they 
occur in another. Such omission might have interfered with some 
established contiguity of time, place, or circumstances, in regard 
to the Buddhas, with which we are not acquainted ; and with res~ 
pect to the repetitions, they may be seen in the list, at a glance, 
by the references attached to them. There is one deviation from 
the catalogues as found in the works whence they are drawn, and 
it is this. After the names of the six great Manushi Buddhas 
(No. 50 to 56) the name of Sakya Sinha, the seventh and last, 
is given in my list, though not found at that place in the Lalita 
Vistara : possibly because Sakya had not, when that work was 
compiled, become Nirvan, and a Tathagata in the proper sense. 
His name, though occurring before, is, notwithstanding, reinsert- 
ed in my catalogue in that place, in order to make up the com- 
plement of the now famous ¥ Sapta Buddha Manushi,' or seven 



4o 



mortal Buddhas. Before each distinct series of names, the work 
from which it is derived, is uniformly noted. 

In the works cited, many more names, besides those given in 
the catalogue, are to be found, and from the whole of the books 
which have been procured and transmitted to Calcutta, hundreds 
of new names might be drawn. 

In the Samadhi Raja,* Sarvarthasiddha (Sakya, before he 
became a Buddha,) is asked by Maitreya and Vajra Pani, how he 
acquired Samadhi Jnyan. In reply, he begins by naming one 
hundred and twenty Tathagatas, who instructed him therein in 
his former births ; and at the conclusion of his enumeration of 
Buddhas, Sarvartha Siddha observes, ' he has given so many names 
exempli gratia, but that his instructors were really no less in num- 
ber than eighty crores !' There is a verse in the Aparimita 
Dharani (to be found in many other, and higher, authorities) pur- 
porting that " the Buddhas who have been, are, and will be, are 
more numerous than the grains of sand on the banks of the Gan- 
ges." Some of these Buddhas sprang, divinely not generatively, 
from other Buddhas ; some from Akas, and some from the Lotos. 
These are evident nonentities, in regard to chronology and history. 
Yet it is often most difficult to distinguish them from their more 
substantial compeers, the origin of the latter having been frequent ' 
ly traced up to heaven by the vanity of superstition, while its 
grovelling genius no less frequently drew down the lineage of the 
former to earth. Again, among the Buddhas confessedly of mor- 
tal mould, there are three wide degrees, that of the Pratyeka 
Buddha, that of the Sravaka Buddha, and that of the Maha Yani- 
ka Buddha. But the two former are regarded, even by their 
worshippers, as little more than mere men of superior sanc- 
tity ; and as infinitely inferior to the Maha Yanika Buddhas, such 
as Sakya and his six great predecessors. We have, however, 
multitudes even of this highest degree ; and besides, the title be- 
longs, not only to the supreme Manushi Tathagatas, but also to 

* I have this list before me extracted from the Samadhi Raja ; but I do not 
think it worth while to add it to the lists already given. 



46 



all the Dhyanis indiscriminately. Upon the whole, then, it seems 
peculiarly desirable, in the present state of our information, to 
keep a steady eye upon the authoritative assertion of the old 
scriptures, that Sakya is the seventh, and last of the Buddhas. 

It is very worthy of remark, too, that, according to these scrip- 
tures, the duration of these seven Buddhas fills the whole extent 
of time ; the two first being assigned to the Satya Yuga ; the two 
second to the Treta ; the two third to the Dwapara ; and Sakya 
and the Buddha yet to come, being the declared Lords of the Kali 
or present Yuga. It will hardly, I imagine, be considered an an- 
swer to this difficulty to observe, that the Chronology of the Bud- 
dhists supposes an eternal world and confounds time and eter- 
nity. 

It has frequently occurred to me to doubt the historical exist- 
ence of Sakya's six predecessors ; for I have not failed to remark 
that, while the Buddhist writings make ample mention of Sakya's 
births, sayings, and doings, and while they ascribe to him, the 
effectual authorship of all the scriptural authorities of the sect^ 
these writings are nearly silent with respect to the origin and ac- 
tions of the six Buddhas who went before him : nor are any doc- 
trines or dogmas referred to them in the authorities in question. 
To go farther into this matter would lead me beyond the bounds 
I have prescribed to myself on the present occasion. What I 
have said will suffice to shew why the catalogue of Buddhas has 
been so long withheld, and perhaps would justify the withholding 
of it still. 



List of Tathagatas compiled from the Lalita Vistdra, Kriya 
Sang r aha and Raksha Bhagavati. 

Lalita Vistdra, 1st Section. 

1 Padmottara. 5 Mahakara. 

2 Dharmaketu. 6 Rishideva. 

3 Dipankara. 7 Sriteja. 

4 Gunaketu. 8 Satyaketu. 



47 



9 Vajrasanhata. 

10 Sarvabhibhu. 

1 1 Hemavarna. 

12 Atyuchchagaim. 

13 Pravarasagara. 

14 Pushpaketu. 

15 Vararupa. 

16 Sulochana, 

17 Rishigupta. 

18 Jinavaktra. 

19 Unnata. 

20 Pushpita. 

21 Urnateja. 

22 Pushkala. 

23 Surasmi. 

24 Mangala. 

25 Sudarsana. 

26 Mahasinhateja. 

27 Sthitabuddhidatta. 

28 Vasantagandhi. 

29 Satyadhermavipulakirtti. 

30 Tishya. 

31 Pushya. 

32 Lokasundara. 

Lalita Vistdra, 

57 — 1 Amoghadarsi. 

58 — 2 Vairochana. 

59 — 3 Dundubhiswara. 

60 — 4 Dharmeswara. 

61 — 5 Samantadarsi. 

62 — 6 Maharchiskandhi. 

63 — 7 Dharmadhwaja. 

64 — 8 Jnanaketu. 

65 — 9 Retnasikhi, 

66— 10 Padmayoni. 



33 Vistirnabheda. 

34 Ratnakirtti. 

35 Ugrateja. 

36 Brahmateja. 

37 Sughosha. 

38 Supushpa. 

39 Sumanojnaghosha. 

40 Sucheshtarupa. 

41 Prahasitanetra. 

42 Gunarasi. 

43 Meghaswara. 

44 Sundaraverna. 

45 Ayusteja. 

46 Salilagajagami. 

47 Lokabhilashita. 

48 Jitasatru. 

49 Sampujita, 

50 Vipasyi. 

51 SikM. 

52 Viswabhu. 

53 Kakutsanda. 

54 Kanakamuni. 

55 Kasyapa. 

56 Sakyamuni. 

13^ Section. 

67— 11 SarvabhibM. (See 

No. 10.) 

68— 12 Sagara. 

69 — 13 Padmagarbha. 

70 — 14 Salendraraja. 

71— 15 Pushpita. (See No. 

72— 16 Yasodatta. 

73 — 17 Jnanameru. 

74— 18 Satyadarsi. 

75— 19 Nagadatta, 



48 



76 — 20 Atyucheliaganii* (See 

No. 12.) 

77 — 21 Mahaviyuha. 

78— 22 Rasmiraj. 

79— 23 Sakyamuni. (See No. 56.) 

80— 24 Indraketu. 

81 — 25 Suryanana. 

82— 26 Sumati. 

83— 27 Nagabhibhu. 

84— 28 Bhaishajyaraj. 

85 — 29 Sinhaketu. 



86 — 30 Gunagradharl 

87— 31 Kasyapa.(SeeNo.55.) 

88— 32 Archihketu. 

89 — 33 Akshobhyaraj. 

90 — 34 Tagarasikhi. 

91 — 35 Sarvagandhi. 

92— 36 Mahapradipa. 

93— 37 Padmottara. (See 

No. 1.) 

94— 38 Dhermaketu. (See 

No. 2.) 



Lalita Vistdra, 20tk Section. 



95 — 1 Vimalaprabhasa. 

96— 2 Retnarchi. 

97 — 3 Pushpavalivanarajiku- 

sumita-bhijna. 

98 — 4 Chandrasurya jihmika- 

raprabha. 

99 — 5 Gunarajaprabhasa. 



100 — 6 Retnayasliti. 

101— 7 Meghakutabhi-garji- 

taswara. 

102 — 8 Retnachhatra-bhyud- 

gatava-bhasa. 

103 — 9 Samantadersi. 

104— 10 Ganendra. 



Kriyd 

105 — 1 Vairochana.* (See 

No. 58.) 

106 — 2 Mahoshnislia. 

107 — 3 Sitatapatro-shmsha. 

108 — 4 Tejorasi. 

109 — 5 Vijayoshnisha. 

110 — 6 Vikiranoshnisha. 

111 — 7 Udgatoshnisha. 

112 — 8 Mahodgatoshnisha. 



113 — 9 Vijayoshnisha. (See 

No. 163.) 

114— 10 Akshobhya. (See 

No. 85.) 

115 — 11 Vajrasatwa. 

116 — 12 Vajraraja. 

117 — 13 Vajraraga. 

118 — 14 Vajrasadhu. 

1 1 9 — 1 5 Retnasambhava. 



* This name, although a repetition, is numbered; because the personage 
here indicated by the name Vairochan, is really Vairoclian Avatar, Manjusri. 
The five celestial Buddhas of Nepaul will be recognised in this list ; but com- 
menting were endless. 



19 



120— -16 Vajraretna. 

121 — 17 Vajrasurya. 

122 — 18 Vajraketu. 

123 — 19 Vajrahasa. 

124— 20 Amitabha. 

125 — 21 Vajradherma. 

126— 22 Vajratikshna. 



127— 23 Vajraketu. 

128— 24 Vajrabhasha, 

129 — 25 Amoghasjddha. 

130— 26 Vajrakerma. 

131— 27 Vajraraksha. 

132— 28 Vajrayaksha. 

133— 29 Vajrasandhi. 



Bakshd Bhagavati. 

134 — 1 Retnakara. 139 — 6 Suryamandala-pra- 

135 — 2 Asokasri. bhasottama. 

136 — 3 Retnarchi.(SeeNo.90.)140— 7 Ekachhatra. 

137 — 4 Jayendra. 141 — 8 Samadhihasty-uttarasri. 

138 — 5 Padmottarasri. (See 142 — 9 Padmasri. 

No. 1.) 143— 10 Nandasri. 



No. II. 

SKETCH OF BUDDHISM, DERIVED FROM THE BAUDDHA SCRIP- 
TURES OF NEPAUL. 
(Printed from the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii.) 
Extract of a letter from Brian Houghton Hodgson, Esq. to 
Dr. Nathaniel Wallich. 

Nepaul, 11th of August, 1827. 
Soon after my arrival in Nepaul (now six years ago), I began 
to devise means of procuring some accurate information relative 
to Buddhism : for, though the regular investigation of such a 
subject was foreign to my pursuits, my respect for science in 
general led me cheerfully to avail myself of the opportunity 
afforded, by my residence in a Bauddha country, for collecting 
and transmitting to Calcutta the materials for such investigation. 
There were, however, serious obstacles in my way, arising out 
of the jealousy of the people in regard to any profanation of 
their sacred things by an European, and yet more, resulting 

G 



50 



from the Chinese notions of policy adopted by this Government. 
I nevertheless persevered ; and time, patience, and dexterous 
applications to the superior intelligence of the chief minister, at 
length rewarded my toils. 

My first object was to ascertain the existence or otherwise of 
Bauddha Scriptures in Nepaul ; and to this end I privately instil 
tuted inquiries in various directions, in the course of which the 
reputation for knowledge of an old Bauddha residing in the city 
of Patan, drew one of my people to his abode. This old man assur- 
ed me that Nepaul contained many large works relating to Bud- 
dhism ; and of some of these he gave me a list. Subsequently, 
when better acquainted, he volunteered to procure me copies of 
them. His list gradually enlarged as his confidence increased; 
and at length, chiefly through his kindness, and his influence 
with his brethren in the Bauddha faith, I was enabled to pro- 
cure and transmit to Calcutta a large collection of important 
Bauddha scriptures. 

Meanwhile, as the Pdtan Bauddha seemed very intelligent, 
and my curiosity was excited, I proposed to him (about four 
years ago) a set of questions, which I desired he would answer 
from his books. He did so ; and these questions and answers 
form the text of the paper winch I herewith forward. The rea- 
son why I have so long kept it to myself, is, that with the lapse 
of time my opportunities for obtaining information increased ; 
and I at length persuaded the sensible minister of this state to 
permit my old friend to visit me. Having in his answers quot- 
ed sundry slokas in proof of his statements ; and many of the 
scriptures whence these were taken being now in my possession, 
I was tempted to try the truth of his quotations. Of that, my 
research gave me in general satisfactory proof. But the posses- 
sion of the books led to questions respecting their relative age 
and authority ; and, tried by this test, the Bauddha? s quotations 
were not always so satisfactory. Thus one step led to another, 
until I conceived the idea of drawing up, with the aid of my 
old friend and Ins books, a sketch of the terminology and ge- 
neral disposition of the external parts of Buddhism, in the belief 



that such a sketch, though but imperfectly executed, would be 
of some assistance to such of my countrymen as, with the books 
only before them, might be disposed to enter into a full and 
accurate investigation of this almost unknown subject. 

When, however, I conceived that design, I little suspected 
where it would lead me ; I began ere long to feel my want of 
languages, and (to confess the truth) of patience, and almost 
looked back with a sigh to the tolerably full and tolerably accu- 
rate account of Buddhism which I had obtained so long ago, and 
with little comparative labour, from my old friend's answers to 
my queries. I also saw certain notices of Buddhism coming 
from time to time before the world, ushered by the talents and 
industry of Klaproth and Remusat ; and, so far as I had opportu- 
nity to learn what these notices contained, it seemed that the an- 
swers to my questions furnished much ampler and more accurate 
views of the subject than these distinguished men could extract 
from their limited sources of information. 

These considerations have induced me to present, without fur- 
ther delay, the accompanying paper to Mr. Colebrooke, to whose 
sound knowledge if it be first submitted, there can be no danger 
of the publication being made without sufficient warrant for its 
usefulness. Whether or not I shall persevere in the undertaking 
before hinted at, I can hardly venture to say ; but from the larger 
information latterly collected by me with a view to its comple- 
tion, I have drawn some notes in correction or enlargement of 
the paper now transmitted, and have placed them on its margin. 

I add to this letter a very considerable list of the Bauddha 
scriptures in general, extracted for me from those still existing 
in Nepaul. 

Of so many of those scriptures as I have procured and sent to 
Calcutta, I have furnished to the Asiatic Society of Bengal a 
meagre explanatory catalogue. Of the rest I can obtain here 
only the names ; and, as it would be useless to repeat what has 
been already said of some of these books, I forward the present 
list, without further observation on it, than, that its accuracy 
may be relied on, and that its contents are so far from being lo- 

G 2 



cal to Nepaul, that the largest portion of the books neither are, 
nor ever were procurable in this valley. 

The Bauddhas were used, in old time, to insert at the end of 
any particular work, lists of the names of many of their sacred 
writings ; and to this usage of theirs am I indebted for the large 
catalogue which I have obtained. 



1 Satasahasrika Prajna Paramita. 

2 Pancha Vingsati Sahasrika Prajna Paramita* 

3 Ashta Dasa Sahasrika Prajna Paramita. 

4 Ashta Sahasrika Prajna Paramita. 

5 Sapta Sati Prajna Paramita, 

6 Prajna Paramita Vyakhya. 

7 Ganda Vyuha Bhadrachari* 

8 Dasa Bhumeswara. 

9 Samadhi Raja. 
10 Lankavatara. 

-11 Saddharma Pundarika BhadracharL 

12 Lallita Vistara. 

13 Tathagata Guhyaka, or Guhya Samadhi. 

14 Suvarna Prabhasa. 

15 Mahavastuavadan Samajataka, Kinnarijataka* 



LIST OF SUNGSKRIT BATJDDHA WORKS. 



1 . Puranas or Exoteric Works. 



19 As6kavadan. 



16 Divyavadan. 

17 Satakavadan, 



18 Bhadrakalpavadan. 



Dipangkarvastu. Birkusavadan* 

Sardulakarnavadan. 

Opakhadhavadan. 

Barikavadan. 

Rastra Palavadan. 

Birkusavadan. 

Kinnarijataka. 

Bodhi Charya Vatar. 

Sapta Kumarikavadan, 

Durgati Parishodhana. 

Ahoratri vrata. 

Kartika Mahatma. 

Chaitya Pungava. 



-53 



20 Bichitra Kamikavadan. 

21 Dwavingstyavadan. 

22 Ratnamalavadan, or 

Ratna vadan Suchandra vadan » 

23 Avadan Kalpalata. 

24 Sugatavadan. 

25 Dharma K6sha. 

26 Dharma Sangraha. 

27 Vinaya Sutra. 

28 Maha Yana Sutra. 

29 Maha Yana Sutralangkara. 

30 Gosringa Vyakhana. 

3 1 Salachakratavadan. 

32 Jatakavadan. 

33 Jataka Mala Visswantarjataka. 

34 Maha Jataka Mala. 

35 Swayambhu Purana Salpa. 

36 Swayambhu Purana Mahata. 

37 Swayambhu Purana Madhama. 

38 Swayambhu Purana Manichuravadan. 

39 Karanda Vyuha. 

40 Gunakaranda Vyuha. 

41 Sukhavati Vyuha. 

42 Karuna Pundarika. 

43 Lalitya Vistara, or 
Tathagata Janamavadan. 

L . 4 Loukika Lankavatar. 

45 Chaitya Mahatma. 

46 Kalpadrumavadan Kavikumaravadan. 

Upokhadhavadan. 

47 Dharma Cosha Vyakhya. 

48 Avadan Sarsammuchaya. ... Sumagadhavadan. 

Sahak6pdesavadan. 
Kapisavadan. 
Kathinavadan. 
Pindapatravadan, 



54 



49 Vratavadan Mala Nandimukha. 

Sughoshavadan. 
Dhimatyavadan. 
Sringabh6ri, &c. 

50 Anuman khanda. 

51 Adikarma pradipa. 

52 Shadhana yuga Tippanh 

53 Manju Sri Parajika. 

54 Vajra Satwa Parajika. 

55 L6keswara Parajika. 

56 Chhand6 Mrittulata. 

57 Subarnavarnavadan. 

58 Tara Satanama. 

59 Buddha Siksha Sammuchaya. 

60 Pancha Raksha. 

61 Buddhokta Sansaramaya. 

62 Laksha Chaitya Vratanusansa. 

63 Prati Moksha Sutra. 

64 Vajra Suchi. 

65 Buddha Charita Kavya. 

66 Gautama Kavya. 

67 Punaya Pratsaha Kavya. 

68 Lokeswura Sataka Kavya. 

69 Sragadhara Kavya. 

70 Bidagdha Mukhamandana Kavya. 

2. Tantras or Esoteric Works\ 

71 Param6dya Maha yuga Tantra. 
"2 Paramartha Seva Tantra. 

73 Pindi Krama Tantra. 

74 Sumputodbhava Tantra. 

75 Hevajra Tantra. 

76 Buddha Kapala Tantra. 

77 Sambara Tantra, or Sambarodya. 

78 Barahi Tantra, or Barahi Kalpa. 

79 Yogambara Tantra. 



80 Dakini Jala Tantra. 

81 Sukla Yamari Tantra. 

82 Krishna Yamari Tantra. 

83 Pita Yamari Tantra. 

84 Rakta Yamari Tantra. 

85 Syama Yamari Tantra. 

86 Kriya Sangraha Tantra. 

87 Kriya Kand Tantra. 

88 Kriya Sagara Tantra. 

89 Kriya Kalpa Druma Tantra. 

90 Kriyarnaba Tantra. 

91 Abhidhan6ttara Tantra. 

92 Kriya Samuchya Tantra. 

93 Sadhana Mala Tantra. 

94 Sadhana Samuchya Tantra. 

95 Sadhana Sangraha Tantra. 

96 Sadhana Ratna Tantra. 

97 Sadhana Pariksha Tantra. 

98 Sadhana Kalpalata Tantra. 

99 Tatwa Jnana Siddhi Tantra. 

100 Jnana Siddhi Tantra. 

101 Guhya Siddhi Tantra. 

102 Udiyan Tantra. 

103 Nagarjuna Tantra. 

104 Yogpitha Tantra. 

105 Pithavatar Tantra. 

106 Kalavir Tantra, or Chanda Rokhuna. 

107 Maha Kala Tantra. 

108 Vajravira Tantra. 

109 Vajra Satwa Tantra. 

110 Marichi Tantra. 

111 Tara Tantra. 

112 Vajradhatu Tantra. 

113 Vimalaprabha Tantra. 

114 Manikarnika Tantra. 

115 TriI6kyavijaya Tantra. 



56 



116 Sampata Tantra. 

117 3ianna Kalika Tantra. 

118 Kuru Kulla Tantra. 

119 Bhuta Daniara Tantra. 

120 Kala Chakra Tantra. 

121 Yogini Tantra. 

122 Yogini Sanchara Tantra. 

123 Yogini Jala Tantra. 

124 Yoganibarapith Tantra. 

125 Uddamara Tantra. 

126 Basundhara Sadhan Tantra. 

127 Xairatma Tantra. 

128 Dakarnava Tantra. 

129 Kriya Sara Tantra, 

130 Yamantaka Tantra. 

131 3Ianju Sri Kalpa Tantra. 

132 Tantra Samuchya Tantra. 

133 Kriya Yatansa Tantra. 

134 Tantra Sloka Sangraha. 

135 Hayagriva Tantra. 

136 Kangkima Tantra. 

137 Xatnsangiti Yyakhya Tantra. 

13S Amrita Karnika nama Sangiti Tika. 

139 Gudhopada nama Sangiti Tika. 

140 Maya jala Tantra. 

141 Jnanodaya Tantra. 

142 Basanta Tilaka Tantra. 

143 Xispanna Yogambara Tantra. 

TPuncna Buddha Dharani — Pra- 

144 Dharani Sangraha. J tmgira Dharani. Saptabara Dhara^ 

\ ill with hundreds more, the work 
'being a collection of them alL 
X. B. Names on the right are portions of the work, written 
opposite them on the left ; priorly they had been treated as sepa- 
rate works. 

The whole of the above are classed under the two important 

heads of Exoteric and Esoteric, the subdivisions not being not- 



57 



ed. This list has been corrected since the paper to which it was 
originally attached was written. 



Extract of a letter from Brian Houghton Hodgson, Esq. to 
Dr. Nathaniel Wallich. 

Nepaul, 17th October, 1827. 

In a clever paper in the first and second numbers of the Cal- 
cutta Quarterly Oriental Magazine, (Review of the Bombay 
Literary Transactions), it is said that one of the distinctions 
between Jainism and Buddhism is, that the Jaina statues are 
all naked, and the Banddha statues all clothed. The pictures 
now sent you are proofs that this notion is false. You see too 
that my Bauddha images are called Digambara, a name hereto- 
fore fancied to be peculiar to Jainism; this is another error, 
and were this the place for dissertation, I could bring for- 
ward many other presumptions in favour of the notion that the 
Jainas are sectarian Bauddhas, who dissented from their Bauddha 
brethren merely in carrying to a gross excess, and in promulgat- 
ing publicly, certain dangerous dogmas, which the more prudent 
Buddhists chose to keep veiled from all but the initiated. The 
Nepaul Buddhists are very jealous of any intrusion into their eso- 
teric dogmas and symbols ; so much so, that though I have been 
for seven years enquiring after these things, my old Vajra A- 
chdrya friend only recently gave me a peep at the esoteric dog- 
mas; and my Chitrakdr, (Bauddha though he be,) has only 
within these last twelve months brought me some esoteric pic- 
tures : nor probably should I have got at these secret things at 
all, if I had not been able to examine the Bauddha books, in 
some small degree, myself; and if a Bhotiya had not put into 
my hands a picture containing one of these naked saints. With 
these decisive means of questioning in my power, I at last got 
my Bauddha assistants to draw up the veil of the sanctuary, to 
bring me copies of the naked saints, and to tell me a little of the 
naked doctrines. 

H 



'Extract of a letter from, Brian Houghton Hodgson, Esq. t& 
Dr. Nathaniel Wallieh. 

Nepaul, 1st November, 1827. 
I cannot just now go into a description of the significance of 
all the details of the sculptures which I have sent. Suffice it 
to -say, that every part of each image is significant ; and that 
the differences between the five are marked, first, by the differ- 
ent position of the hands (which is called the mudra) ; secondly, 
by the variety of the supporters ; thirdly, by the variety of the 
cognizances placed between the supporters ; and fourthly (where 
painting and colours are used), by difference of colour. Vai- 
rochand's appropriate colour is white ; Ahshobhyds, blue ; Ratna- 
Sambhava's, yellow, or golden ; Amitdbhd's red ; and Amogha- 
Siddha's, green. 



Extract of a letter from Brian Houghton Hodgson, Esq. to 
Henry Thomas Colebrooke, Esq. Dir. R. A. S. 

I beg to present you with the accompanying sketch of Bud- 
dhism. There are a few matters connected with it, which it may 
be advisable to state to you ; and in the first rank stands the au- 
thority upon which I have assigned the meaning of intellectual 
essence to the word Buddha, and that of material essence to the 
word Dharma. The Bauddhas define the words thus : l B6dhan 
dtmakd iti Buddha ; Dhdran dtmaka iti Dharma. 1 About the 
former of these definitions there can be no difficulty ; there may 
concerning the latter. To the word Darana, or holding, con- 
taining, sustaining (from the root dhrt), I have assigned a materi- 
al sense ; first, because it is opposed to bodhana ; secondly, because 
the goddess Dharma, the pravrittika personification of this princi- 
ple, is often styled, in the most authentic books, 6 Prakriteswari,' 
the material goddess, or goddess of matter ; and thirdly, because 
this goddess is, (under the names Dharma, Prajnya, Arya Tara, 
&c.) in very many passages of old Bauddha works, described as 
the material cause of all things ; conformably, indeed, with that 
bias towards materialism, which our heretofore scanty knowledge 
of Buddhism has led us to assign to the Saugata faith. 



Sanga, the third member of the Triads belongs not to the ex- 
alted state of nirvritti, in which no sect of Bauddhas admits more 
than two principles of all things, or matter and mind, Buddha 
and Dharma. Sang a is defined ' Samudayi atmaka iti Sangya,' 
the multitudinous essence ; because multitude is held to be as 
strong a characteristic of pravritti, or the palpable world, as unity 
is of the world of nirvritti, or abstraction. 

In note 31, I have distinctly rejected the fifth order of Bandy a», 
©r Vajra Achdryas, in opposition to my old Bauddha friend's state- 
ment in the text of the Sketch. There can be no doubt that my 
friend is mistaken : for in many high authorities, the four origi- 
nal and true orders of Bandy as are called by the collective name 
of the ' Chatur Varna,' and are therein described without mention 
of the Vajra Achdryas. It may serve to explain my friend's state- 
ment, to tell you that he is himself a Vajra Achdrya ; and that as 
the genuine monachism of Buddhism has long since passed away 
in Nepaul, sundry local books have been composed here by Vajra 
Achdryas, in which they have made their own modern order co- 
equal with the four ancient orders ; and my old friend would hold 
these modern Nepaul books sufficient warrant for the rank ascribe 
ed to his own class. I have lately spoken to him on this subject, 
and he has confessed that there is no old authority for his fifth 
order of Bandy as. In my note I have endeavoured carefully to 
separate Buddhism as it is (in Nepaul) and Buddhism as it ought 
to be, quoad this point of classification. If you look into Kirk- 
Patrick's and Buchanan's works on Nepaul, you will see how they 
have been puzzled with the difference of things as they are from 
what they ought to be, in those casual and erroneous hints which 
they have afforded on the subject of Buddhism. 

In note 15, I have stated that the Kdrmikas and Ydtnakas en- 
tertained tolerably just views on the grand subject of free-will and 
necessity ; and I believe I am therein essentially correct : for how 
otherwise are we to understand their confession of faith, < the ac- 
tions of a man's prior births are his destiny?' Exclude the me- 
tempsychosis, which is the vehicle of the sense of this passage, 
and we have our old adage, ' Conduct is fate :' a law of freedom 
surely. 

II 2 



60 



Still, were I cross-examined, I might be forced to confess, that 
the ideas which the Kdrmikas and Ydtnakas entertain of free-will, 
seem to resemble rather the qualifications of our Collins and Ed- 
wards, than the full and absolute freedom of Clarke and the best 
European philosophers. 

The Kdrmikas and Ydtnakas seem to have been impressed with 
the fact of man's free-will, but to have been perplexed in recon- 
ciling such a notion with the general spirit and tendency of the 
old Swabhdvica philosophy. But in the result, the Kdrmikas and 
Ydtnakas seem to have adhered to free-will, though perhaps in 
the qualified sense above mentioned. 



SKETCH OF BUDDHISM. 

Question I. 

How and when was the world created ? 

Answer. 

According to the Sdmbhu Purdna, in the beginning all was 
void (sunya). The first light that was manifest was the word 
Aum; and from this Aum the alphabet was produced — called 
Mahd Varna, the letters of which are the seeds of the universe. 
(See note 1.) In the Guna Kdranda Vyuha it is written, when 
nothing else was, Sambhu was ; that is the self-existent (Sivayam- 
bhu) ; and as he was before all, he is also called A'di-Buddha. 
He wished from one to become many, which desire is denominat- 
ed Prajnya. Buddha and Prajnya united became Prajnya Upa- 
ya, as Siva Sakti, or Brahma Maya. (See note 2.) In the in- 
stant of conceiving this desire, five forms or beings were produc- 
ed, called the five Buddhas (see note 3), whose names are as fol- 
lows : Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratna-Sambha va, Amitabha, 
Amogha-Siddha. Each of these Buddhas, again, produced from 
himself, by means of Dhydn, another being called his Bodhi-Sat- 
wa, or son. Vairoch an a produced Samant-Bhadra ; Akshobhya, 
Vajra-Pani ; Ratna-Sambhava, Ratna-Pani ; Amitabha, 
Padma-Pani ; and Amogha-Siddha, Viswa-Pani. 



61 



Of these five Bodhi- Satwas, four are engrossed with the wor- 
ship of Sambhu (Sivayambhu), and nothing more is known of them 
than their names ; the fifth, Padma-Pani, was engaged, by Sam- 
bhu's command, in creation (see note 4) ; and having, by the effi- 
cacy of Sambhu's Dhydn, assumed fhe virtues of the three Gunas, 
he created Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa, and delegated to them 
respectively, creation, preservation, and destruction. Accordingly, 
by Padma-Pani's commands, Brahma set about creating all 
things ; and the Chatur-yoni (or oviparous, viviparous, &c.*) came 
into existence by Brahma. The creation of Brahma, Vishnu, and 
Mahesa by Padma-Pani, is confirmed by the sloca (see note 5), 
the meaning of which is, Kamali (Padma-Pani,) produced Brah- 
ma for creating, Vishnu for preserving, and Mahesa for destroy- 
ing. And the creation of Brahma is six-sorted, viz. Deva, 
Daitya, Mdnusha, &c. ; and, for the Devas, Brahma made heaven ; 
and for the Daityas, Pdtdla ; and the four remaining kinds he plac- 
ed between these two regions and upon the earth. 

With respect to the mansions (Bhuvanas) of the universe, it is 
related, that the highest is called Agnishtha Bhuvana ; and this is 
the abode of A'di-Buddha. And below it, according to some ac- 
counts, there are ten ; and according to others, thirteen Bhuvanas 
(see note 6) ; named, Pramoditd, Vimald, Prabhdkari, Archish- 
mati, Sudurjayd, Abhimukhi, Durangamd, Achald, Sddhumatl, 
Dharma-megha (x), Samant-prabhd,Nirupamd, Jnydnavati (xiii). 
These thirteen Bhuvanas are the work of A'di-Buddha : they are 
the Bodhi-Satwa Bhuvanas ; and whoever is a faithful follower of 
Buddha will be translated to one of these mansions after death. 

Below the thirteen Bodhi-Satwa Bhuvanas are eighteen Bhu- 
vanas, called collectively Rupya Vachara. These are subject to 
Brahma, and are named individually : Brahma-kdyikd, Brahma- 
purohitd, Brahma-prashddyd, Mahd Brahmand, Paritdbhd, Apra- 
mdndbhd, Abhdsward, Parita-subhd, Subhd-kishnd, Anabhrakd, 
Punya-prasavd, Vrihat-phula, Arangi-salwd, Avrihd, Apdyd, Su- 
drishd, Sudarsand, and Sumukhd. Pious worshippers of Brahma 
shall go to one of these eighteen Bhuvanas after death. 

* By et Ccetera always understand more Brahrnanorum. 



62 



And below the eighteen mansions of Brahma, are six others sub- 
ject to Vishnu, called collectively Kama- Vachard, and separately 
as follows : Chatur-Mahd-rdja-Kdyikd, Trayastrinsd, Tushita, 
Yamd, Nirmdnavati, Paranirmitd- Vasdvarti. And whosoever 
worships Vishnu with pure heart shall go to one of these. 

And below the six Bhuvanas of Vishnu are the three Bhuva- 
nas of Maha-deva, called generally Arupya- Vachard, and parti- 
cularly as follows : Abhogd-Nitya-yatnopagd, Vijnyd-yatndpagd, 
Akinchanya-yatnopagd, and these are the heavens designed for 
pious Siva-Mdrgis. Below the mansions enumerated, are Indra 
Bhuvana, Yama Bhuvana, Surya Bhuvana, and Chandra Bhu- 
vana ; together with the mansions of the fixed stars, of the planets, 
and various others which occupy the space down to the Agni Bhu- 
vana, also called Agni-hund. And below Agni-kdnd is Vayu- 
kund ; and below Vayu-kund is Prithvi, or the earth ; and on the 
earth are seven Dwipas, Jambu Dwipa, &c. ; and seven Sdgaras 
or seas, and eight Parvatas or mountains (see note 7), Sumeru 
Parvata, &c. And below Prithvi, is Jala-kund, or the world of 
waters ; and the earth is on the waters as a boat. And below the 
Jala-kund are seven Pdtdlas, as Dharani, &c. : six of them are the 
abodes of the Daityas; and the seventh is Naraka, consisting of 
eight separate abodes : and these eight compose the hell of sinners. : 
and from the eighteen Bhuvanas of Brahma down to the eight 
chambers of Naraka, all is the work of Manjusri. Manjusri is 
by the Bauddhas esteemed the great architect, who constructs the 
mansions of the world by A'di-Buddha's command, as Padma- 
Pani, by his command, creates all animate things. 

Thus Manjusri (see note 8) is the Visva-karma of the Baud- 
dhas; and is also the author of the sixty-four Vidyds. 

Question II. 
What was the origin of mankind ? 

Answer. 

It is written in the narrative portion of our Tantras, that origin- 
ally the earth was uninhabited. In those times the inhabitants 
of Abhdsward Bhuvana (which is one of the Bhuvanas of Brahma) 



63 



used frequently to visit the earth, and thence speedily to return 
to Abhdswara. It happened at length, that, when a few of these 
beings, who, though half males andjialf females, had never yet, 
from the purity of their minds, conceived the sexual desire, or 
even noticed their distinction of sex, came, as usual, to the earth, 
A'di-Buddha suddenly created in them so violent a longing to eat, 
that they ate some of the earth, which had the taste of almonds, 
and by eating it they lost their power of flying back to their Bhu- 
vana, and so they remained on the earth. They were now con- 
strained to eat the fruits of the earth for sustenance ; and from eat- 
ing these fruits they conceived the sexual desire, and began to 
associate together : and from that time, and in that manner, the 
origin of mankind commenced from the union of the sexes. (See 
note 9.) 

When the beings above-mentioned came last from Abhdswara 
Maha Samvat was their leader, and he was the first king of the 
whole earth. 

In another Tantra it is written, that A'di-Buddha is the im- 
mediate creator of all things in heaven and earth. 

With respect to time we conceive the Satya-yuga to be the be- 
ginning of time, and the Kali-yuga the end of it : and the duration 
of the four yugas, the particulars of which are found in the Brah- 
manical scriptures, have no place in our's : in which it is merely 
written that there are four yugas ; and that in the first, men 
lived 80,000 years ; in the second, 10,000 ; in the third 1,000 : and 
the fourth is divided into four periods ; in the first of which, men 
will live 100 years ; in the second, fifty years ; in the third, twenty- 
five years ; and in the fourth, when the close of the Kali-yuga is 
approaching, seven years only ; and their stature will be only the 
height of the thumb ; and then all things will be destroyed, and 
A'di-Buddha alone remain : and this period of four yugas is a 
Pralaya. A'di-Buddha will then again create the four yugas, 
and all things else to live in their duration, which when complet- 
ed, all things will be again destroyed, and thus there will be seven- 
ty-one pralayas, or completions of the four yugas, when Malm 
Pralaya will arrive. How many revolutions of the four yugas 



ft 



(i. e. how many pralayas) have now passed, and how many re- 
main to revolve, is nowhere written. 

Question IIL 
What is matter, and what spirit ? 

Answer. 

Body (see note 10), which is called Sarira and Deha, was pro- 
duced from the five elements ; and soul, which is called prdna 
and jiva, is a particle of the essence of A'di-Buddha. Body, as 
created out of the elements, perisheth : soul, as a particle of the 
divine spirit, perisheth not ; body is subject to changes — to be fat 
and lean, &c. ; soul is unchangeable. Body is different in all ani- 
mals ; soul is alike in all, whether in man or any other creature. 
But men have, besides prdna, the faculty of speech, which other 
animals have not ; according to the sloca, of which the meaning 
is this : " Deha is derived from the five Bhutas, and Jiva from 
the Angas of Sivayambhu." (See note 11.) 

Question IV. 

Is matter an independent existence, or derived from God ? 
Ansioer. 

Body, according to some, depends upon the inhaling and exhal- 
ing of the Prdna- Vdyu ; and this inhalation and exhalation of the 
breath is by virtue of the soul (prdna), which virtue, according to 
some, is derived from God, and according to others (see note 12), 
is inherent in itself : there is much diversity of opinion on this 
subject. Some of the Buddha-mdrgis contend that deha (the 
body) is Swabhdvaka ; i. e. from the copulation of males and 
females, new bodies proceed ; and they ask who makes the eyes, 
the flesh, the limbs, &c. of the foetus in the mother's womb ? Swa- 
bhdva / And the thorns of the desert, who points them ? Swabhd- 
va ! And the timidity of the deer kind, and the fury of the rave- 
nous beasts, whence are they ? from Swabhdva ! 

And this is a specimen of their reasoning and proofs, according 
to a sloca of the Buddha- Charita-Kavy a. (See note 13.) Some 
again say, that deha and sansdra are Aishivarika (see note 14), i. e. 



6.5 



produced by Iswara, or A'di-Buddha, according to another 
sloca. 

Some again call the world and the human body Kdrmika, 
i. e. that Karma is the cause of this existence o£deha and sansdra ; 
and they liken the first deha to a field (kshetra), and works, to a 
seed. And they relate, that the first body which man received 
was created solely by A'di-Buddha ; and at that time works affect- 
ed it not : but when man put off his first body, the next body 
which he received was subject to Karma, or the works of the first 
body (see note 15) ; and so was the next, and all future ones, un- 
til he attained to Mukti and Moksha : and therefore they say, that 
whoever would be free from transmigration must pay his devotions 
to Buddha, and consecrate all his worldly goods to Buddha, nor 
ever after suffer such things to excite his desires. And, in the 
Buddha- Charita-Kavya it is written, that with respect to these 
points, Sakya expressed the following opinion : " Some persons 
say that Sansdra is Swabhdvakd, some that it is Kdrmika, and 
some that it is Aiswarikd and Atmaka ; for myself, I can tell you 
nothing of these matters. Do you address your meditation to 
Buddha ; and when you have attained Bodhijnydnd, you will know 
the truth yourselves." 

Question V. 
What are the attributes of God ? 

Answer. 

His distinctive attributes are many ; one of which is, that he is 
Panchjnydndtmaka (see note 16), or, in his essence are five sorts 
oijnydna, possessed by him alone, and which are as follows : first, 
Suvisuddha-Dharma-Dhdtuja ; second, Adarsandja ; third, Prat- 
yavekshandja ; fourth, Samtdja ; fifth, Anushthdnaja. The first 
created beings, Vairochana, &c. were in number five, owing to 
these five jny anas ; and in each of these five Buddhas is one of the 
jnydnas. Another of A'di-Buddha's attributes is the faculty of 
individualizing, and multiplying himself, and again individualizing 
himself at pleasure : another is, possessing the qualities of passion 
and clemency. 

I 



GG 



Question VI. 

Is the .pleasure of God derived from action or repose ? 
Answer. 

There are two modes of considering this subject : first, accord- 
ing to nirvritti ; and, secondly, according to pravritti. 

Nirvritti (see note 17) is this : to know the world to be a mere 
semblance, unreal, and an illusion ; and to know God to be one : 
and Pravritti is the opposite of this sublime science and is the 
practice and notions of ordinary men. Therefore, according to 
nirvritti, A'di-Buddha is the author and creator of all things, 
without whom nothing can be done ; whose care sustains the world 
and its inhabitants ; and the moment he averts his face from them 
they became annihilated, and nothing remains but himself. But 
some persons, who profess nirvritti, contend that the world with 
all it containeth is distinct from A'di-Buddha : yet the wise know 
this to be an error. (See note 18.) 

A'di-Buddha, though he comprehends all living things, is yet 
one. He is the soul, and they are but the limbs and outward 
members, of this monad. Such is nirvritti, which, being deeply 
studied, is found to be unity ; but pravritti, which is multiplicity, 
may be distinguished in all things. And in this latter view of 
pravritti, A'di-Buddha may be considered a king, who gives or- 
ders ; and the five Buddhas, and other divinities of heaven, his 
ministers, who execute his orders ; and we, poor mortals, his sub- 
jects, servants, and slaves. In this way the business of the world 
is distributed among the deities, each having his proper functions ; 
and A'di-Buddha has no concern with it. Thus the five Bud- 
dhas give mukti (see note 19) and moksha to good men : Brahma, 
by the orders of Padma-Paxi, performs the part of creator; 
Vishnu, by the same orders, cherishes all beings; and Maha 
Deva, by the same orders, destroys ; Yama takes cognizance of 
sins, and punishes sinners ; Ixdra and Varuxa give rain ; and 
the sun and moon fructify the earth with their rays ; and so of the 
rest. 



67. 



Question VIL 

Who is Buddha ? Is he God, or the creator, or a prophet or 
saint ; born of heaven, or of a woman ? 

Answer. 

Buddha means, in Sanscrit, the wise ; also, that which is 
known by wisdom ; and it is one of the names which we give to 
God, whom we also call A'di-Buddha, because he was before 
all, and is not created, but is the creator : and the Pancha Buddha 
were created by him, and are in the heavens. Sakya, and the rest 
of the seven human Buddhas are earth-born or human. These 
latter, by the worship of Buddha, arrived at the highest eminence, 
and attained Nirvana Pad (i. e. were absorbed into A'di-Buddha). 
(See note 20.) We therefore call them all Buddhas. 

Question VIII. 

What is the reason for Buddha being represented with curled 
locks ? 

Answers 

A'di-Buddha was never seen. He is merely light. (See note 
21.) But in the pictures of Vairochana, and the other Buddhas f 
we have the curled hair ; and since in the limbs and organs we 
discriminate thirty-two {lacshanas) points of beauty, such as ex- 
pansion of forehead, blackness of the eyes, roundness of the head, 
elevation of the nose, and archedness of the eyebrows ; so also the 
having curled locks is one of the points of beauty and there is 
no other reason for Buddha's being represented with curled locks. 
(See note 22.) 

Question IX. 

What are the names of the great Buddha? Does the Newdri 
language admit the word Buddha, or any substitute for it ? and 
what is the Bhotiya name for Buddha ? 

Answer. 

The names of A'di-Buddha are innumerable: Sarvajnya, 
Sugata, Buddha, Dharma-Raja, Tathagata, Bhagavan, 

I 2 



68 



Samant-Bhadra,Marajita, Lokajita, Jina, Anadinidhana, 

A'dI-BuDDHA, NlRANDHAKA, JnYANAIKACHAKSHU, AmALA, 

Jnyana-Murti, Vacheswara, Maha-Vadi, Vadirata, Vadi- 
pungava, Vadisinha, and Par a j ata. Vairochana, and the 
other five Buddkas, have also many names. Some of Vairocha- 
na's are as follows : Maha-Difti, Jnyana, Jyotish, Jagat-pra- 
VRiTTi, Mahatejas, &c. ; and so of the other four. Padma- 
Pani also has many names, as Padma-Pani, Kamali, Padma- 
Hasta, Padma-Kara, Kamala-Hasta, Kasiaeakara, Kamal 
Pani, Aryavalokiteswara, Aryavaeokeswar, Avlokites- 
wab, and Loka-Natha. (See note 23.) Many of the above names 
are intercommunicable between the several persons to whom they 
are here appropriated. Buddha is a Sanscrit word, not Neicdri : 
the Bhotiya names I do not know; but I have heard they call 
Sakya Sinha, Sungi Thuba; Sitngi meaning the deity, and 
Thuba his Alaya or Vihdr. 

Question X. 

In the opinion of the JBanras, did God ever make a descent on 
earth ? if so, how often ; and what is the Sanscrit and Newdri 
name of each Avatdra ? 

Answer. 

According to the scriptures of the Buddhamdrgis, neither A'di- 
Btjddha nor any of the Pancha Buddha Dhydni (see note 24), 
ever made a descent ; that is to say, they were never conceived 
in mortal womb ; nor had they father or mother ; but certain per- 
sons of mortal mould have by degrees attained to such excellence of 
nature and such Bodhijnydna, as to have been gifted with divine 
wisdom, and to have taught the Bodhi-charya and Buddhamdr- 
ga, and these were seven, named : Vipasya, Sikhi, Viswa-Bhu, 
Karkutchajo), Kanakamuni, Kasyapa, Sakya Sinha. 

In the Satya-yuga were three : Vipasya, who was born in 
Vindumati JVagar, in the house of Vinduman Raja ; Sikhi, in 
Vrna Desa ; and Visvabhu, in Anupamd Desa, in the house of a 
Kshatriya : in the Tretdyuga, two persons became Buddhas ; one 



69 



Karkutchand, in Kshemdvati Nagar, in the house of a Brahman; 
the other Kanaka Muni, in Sdbhdvati Nagar, in the house of a 
Brahman : and in the Divapar-yuga, one person named Kasyapa, 
in Vdrdnasi Nagar, in the house of a Brahman : and in the Kali- 
yuga, Sakya, then called Sarvartha Siddha (see note 25), in 
the house of Sudhodana Raja, a Sdkyavansi, in the city of Ka- 
pdlvastu, which is near Gangdsdgar, became Buddhas. Besides 
these seven, there are many illustrious persons ; but none equal to 
these. The particular history of these seven, and of other Bud- 
dhas, is written in the Lalita Vistara. (See note 25.) 

Question XT. 

How many Avatdras of Buddhas have there been, according to 
the Lamas ? 

Answer. 

They agree with us in the worship of the seven Buddhas, the 
difference in our notions being extremely small ; but the Lamas go 
further than this, and contend that themselves are Avatdras. I 
have heard from my father,- that, in his time, there were five Lamas 
esteemed divine : the names of three of them I have forgotten, but 
the remaining two are called Shamurpa and Karmapa. 

Question XII. 

Do the Lamas worship the Avatdras recognized by the Ne- 
wdrs ? 

Answer. 

The Lamas are orthodox Buddhamdrgis, and even carry their 
orthodoxy to a greater extent than we do. Insomuch, that it is 
said, that S Ankara Acharya, Siva- Mar gi, having destroyed the 
worship of Buddha and the scriptures containing its doctrine in 
Hindust'han, came to Nepaul, where also he effected much mis- 
chief ; and then proceeded to Bhdte. There he had a conference 
with the grand Lama. The Lama, who never bathes, and after 
natural evacuations does not use topical ablution, disgusted him to 



TO 



that degree, that he commenced reviling the Lama. The Lama 
replied, " I keep my inside pure, although my outside be impure ; 
while you carefully purify yourself without, but are filthy within :" 
and at the same time he drew out his whole entrails, and shewed 
them to Sankara ; and then replaced them again. He then de- 
manded an answer of Sankara. Sankara, by virtue of his y6ga y 
ascended into the heavens ; the Lama perceiving the shadow of 
Sankara's body on the ground, fixed a knife in the place of the 
shadow; Sankara directly fell upon the knife, which pierced his 
throat and killed him instantly. Such is the legend or tale that 
prevails, and thus we account for the fact ; the Buddhamargi prac- 
tice of Bhote is purer, and its scriptures more numerous, than 
ours. 

Question XIII. 

What is the name of your sacred writings, and who is their 
author ? 

Answer. 

We have nine Pur anas, called " the nine Dharmas." (See note 
26.) A Pur ana is a narrative or historical work, containing a 
description of the rites and ceremonies of Buddhism, and the 
lives of our chief Tathdgatas. The first Dharma is called Prajna 
Paramita, and contains 8,000 slocas. This is a Nydya Sdstra, or 
work of a scientific character, capable of being understood only 
by men of science ; the second is named Ganda Vyulia, of 12,000 
slocas, which contains the history of Sudhana Kumara, who 
made sixty-four persons his gurus, from whom he acquired 
Bodhijndna ; the third, is the Samddhi Raja, of 3,000 slocas, in 
which the nature and value oijapa and tapas are explained; the 
fourth is the Lancdvatdr, of 3,000 slocas, in which is written how 
Ravana, lord of Lanca, having gone to Malayagiri mountain, and 
there heard the history of the Buddhas from Sakya Sinha, ob- 
tained Boddlivjndna. The fifth, which is called Tathdgata Guhya, 
is not to be found in Nepaul ; the sixth, is the Sat Dharma Punda- 
rikd, which contains an account of the method of building a 



71 



chaitya or Buddha-mandal, and the mode and fruits of worshipping- 
it. ( Chaitya* is the exclusive name of a temple dedicated to 
A'di-Buddha or to the Pancha Dhydni Buddha, and whatever 
temple is erected to Sakya, or other Mdnushi Buddhas, is called 
vihdr ;) the seventh, is the Lalita Vistdra, of 7,000 slocas, 
which contains the history of the several incarnations of Sakya 
Sinha Bhagavan, and an account of his perfections in virtue and 
knowledge, with some notices of other Buddhas. The eighth, is 
the Suvarna Prabhd, containing, in 1,500 slocas, an account of 
Saraswati, Lakshmi and Prithivi; how they lauded Sakya 
Sinha Bhagavan ; and how he, in return, gave each of them what 
she desired. The ninth, is the Das' a Bhumeswara, of 2,000 slocas, 
containing an account of the ten Bhuvanas of Buddha. All 
these Purdnas we received from Sakya Sinha, and esteem them 
our primitive scriptures, because before the time of Sakya our 
religion was not reduced to writing, but retained in memory ; the 
disadvantages of which latter method being evident to Sakya, he 
secured our institutes by writing them. Besides these Purdnas, 
we received Tantras Dhdrams from Sakya Sinha. Tantra is 
the name of those books in which Mantras and Yantras are writ- 
ten, explanatory of both of which we have very many works. 
Three of them are famous : first, Mdyd Jdl, of 16,000 slocas ; 
second, Kala Chakra, of 6,000 ; third, Sambhu Udaya, of 1,000. 
The Dhdrams were extracted from the Tantras, and are similar 
in nature to the Guhya, or mysterious rites, of the Siva-Mdrgis. A 
Dhdr am is never less than eight slocas, or more than five hundred ; 
in the beginning and middle of which are written the " Vija Man- 
tra," and at the end, the " Thul Stotra," or the Mahdtmya, i. e. 
what desire may be accomplished or what business achieved by 
the perusal of that Dhdr am ; such, for example, as obtaining chil- 
dren — advantage over an enemy — rain — or merely the approba- 
tion of Buddha. There are probably a thousand Dhdrams. 

* Besides these chaityas and the Vihars, the Nepaulese have common tem- 
ples, dedicated equally to the Diiminores of the Baudd/ius, and to all the dei- 
ties of the Saivas, 



72 



Question XIV. 
What is the cause of good and evil ? 

Answer. 

When Padma-Pani, having become Tri-gun-A'tmaka, that is, 
having assumed the form of Satya-gun, Raja-gun, and Tama- 
gun, created Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa ; then from Satya- 
gun, arose spontaneously (Swabhdvaka), punya or virtue, and 
from Tama-gun, papa or evil, and from Raja-gun, the mean of 
the two, which is neither all good nor all evil : for these three 
gunas are of such a quality that good acts, mixed acts, and bad 
acts, necessarily flow from them. Each of these karmas or classes 
of actions is divided into ten species, so that papa is of ten kinds ; 
first (see note 27) murder ; second, robbery ; third, adultery, 
which are called kdyaka or bodily, i. e. derived from Kay a ; fourth, 
lying ; fifth, secret slander ; sixth, reviling ; seventh, reporting 
such words between two persons as excite them to quarrels, and 
these four papas are called Vdchaka, i. e. derived from speech ; 
eighth, coveting another's goods ; ninth, malice, and tenth, disbe- 
lief of the scriptures and immorality ; and these three are called 
mdnasi, i. e. derived from manas (the mind). The ten actions op- 
posite to these are good actions : and the ten actions, composed, 
half and half, of these two sorts, are mixed actions. 

Question XV. 

What is the motive of your good acts — the love of God — the 
fear of God — or the desiring of prospering in the world ? 

Answer. 

The primary motive for doing well, and worshipping Buddha, 
according to the scriptures, is the hope of obtaining Mukti and 
Moksha, becoming Nirvana, and being freed from transmigrations: 
these exalted blessings cannot be had without the love of God ; 
therefore they, who make themselves accepted by God, are the true 
saints, and are rarely found ; and between them and Buddha 



73 



there is no difference, because they will eventually become Bud' 
dhas, and will obtain Nirvana Pada, i. e. mukti (absorption), and 
their jyoti will be absorbed into thejydti of Buddha ; and to this 
degree Sakya and the others of the " Sapta-Buddha" (see note 
28) have arrived, and we call them Buddhas, because, whoever has 
reached this state is, in our creed, a Buddha. Those persons 
who do good from the fear of hell, and avoid evil from the desire 
of prospering in the world, are likewise rarely found, and their 
degree is much above that of the class of sinners. Their sufferings in 
Naraka will be therefore lessened ; but they will be constrained to 
suffer several transmigrations, and endure pain and pleasure in 
this world, till they obtain Mukti and Moksha. 

Question XVI. 

Will you answer, in the world to come, to A'di-Buddha for 
your acts in this world, or to whom will you answer ? and what 
rewards for good, and pains for evil, will you reap in the next 
world ? 

Answer. 

How can the wicked arrive at Buddha ? (see note 29.) Their 
wicked deeds will hurry them away to Naraka ; and the good, 
will, by virtue of their good acts, be transported to the Bhuvanas 
of Buddha, and will not be there interrogated at all ; and those 
who have sometimes done good and sometimes evil, are destined 
to a series of births and deaths on earth, and the account of their 
actions is kept by Yama Raja. 

Question XVII. 
Do you believe in the metempsychosis ? 

Answer. 

Yes. For it is written in the Jdtaka Mala, and also in the 
Lalita Vistdra, that Sakya, after having transmigrated through 
five hundred and one bodies, obtained Nirvana Pada or Mukti 
in the last body ; but so long as we cannot acquire Mukti, so long 

J 



.74 



we must pass through births and deaths on earth. Some acquire 
Muksha after the first birth, some after the seventy- seventh, and 
some after innumerable births. It is no where written that 
Moksha is to be obtained after a prescribed number of births ; but 
every man must atone for the sins of each birth by a proportionate 
number of future births, and when the sins of the body are en- 
tirely purified and absolved, he will obtain absorption into A'di- 

BUDDHA. 

Question XVIII. 
What and from whence are the Newars, from Hindust'han or 
Bhote ? (see note 30,) and what is the word Newar, the name 
of a country or a people ? 

Answer. 

The natives of the valley of Nepaul are Neivars. In Sanscrit, 
the country is called Naipdla, and the inhabitants Naipdli ; and 
the words newdr and newdri are vulgarisms arising from the mu- 
tation of p to v, and 1 to r. Thus too the word Bandy a, the 
name of the Buddhamdrgi sect (because its followers make 
bandana, i. e. salutation and reverence to the proficients in 
Bodhijndna), is metamorphosed by ignorance into Bdnra, a word 
which has no meaning. 

Question XIX. 
Do the Newars follow the doctrine of caste or not ? 

Answer. 

As inhabitants of one country they are one — but in regard to 
caste, they are diverse. 

Question XX. 
How many castes are there amongst the Bdnras ? 

Answer. 

Bdnra, according to the true reading, is Bandya, as explained 
above. According to our Purdnas, whoever has adopted the tenets 



7^5 

of Buddha, and has cut off the lock from the crown of his head; 
of whatever tribe or nation he be, becomes thereby a Bandy a (see 
note 31). The Bhotiyas, for example, are Bandy as because they 
follow the tenets of Buddha, and have no lock on their heads. 
The Bandy as are divided into two classes ; those who follow the 
Vdhya-charya, and those who adopt the Abhyantara-charya — ^ 
words equivalent to the Grihastha dsram and Vairdgi dsram of 
the Brdhmanas. The first class is denominated Bhikshu ; the 
second, Vajra A' chary a. The Bhikshu cannot marry; but the 
Vajra A' chary a is a family man. The latter is sometimes called, 
in the vernacular tongue of the Neivars, Gubhdl, which is not a 
Sanscrit word. Besides this distinction into monastic and secular- 
orders, the Bandy as are again divided, according to the scriptures, 
into five classes: first, Arhan ; second, Bhikshu; third, Srdwaka,; 
fourth, Chailaka ; fifth, Vajra A' chary a. The Arhan is he who 
is perfect himself, and can give perfection to others : who eats 
what is offered to him, but never asks for any thing. The Bhikshu*, 
is he who assumes a staff and beggar's dish (khikshari and pinda 
pdtra), sustains himself by alms, and devotes his attention solely to 
the contemplation (dhydna) of A'di-Buddha, without ever inter- 
meddling with worldly affairs. The Srdwaka is he who devotes 
himself to hearing the Bauddha scriptures read or reading them 
to others; these are his sole occupations, and he is sustained by 
the small presents of his audiences. The Chailaka is he who 
contents himself with such a portion of clothes (chilaka) as bare- 
ly suffices to cover his nakedness, rejecting every thing; more as 
superfluous. The Bhikshu and the Chailaka very nearly resem- 
ble each other, and both (and the Arhan also) are bound to prac- 
tice celibacy. The Vajra A chary a is he who has a wife and chil- 
dren, and devotes himself to the active ministry of Buddhism, Such 
is the account of the five classes found in the scriptures ; but there 
are no traces of them in Nepaul. No one follows the rules of that 
class to which he nominally belongs. Among the Bhotiyas there 
are many Bhikshus, who never marry; and the Bhotiya Lamas are 
properly Arhans. But all the Nepaulese Buddhamdrgis are mar- 
ried men, who pursue the business of the world, and seldom think 

J 2 



76 



of the injunctions of their religion. The Tantras and Dhdranis, 
which ought to be read for their own salvation, they read only for 
the increase of their stipend and from a greedy desire of money. 
This division into five classes is according to the scriptures ; but 
there is a popular division according to Vihdrs, and these Vihdrs 
being very numerous, the separate congregations of the Bandyas, 
have been thus greatly multiplied. In Patan alone there are fif- 
teen Vihdrs. A temple to A'di-Buddha, or to the five Dhydni* 
Buddhas, called a Chaitya, is utterly distinct from the Vihdr, and 
of the form of a sheaf of Dhdnya. But the temples of Sakya 
and the other of the " Sapta Buddha Mdnushi," as well as those 
of other chief saints and leaders of Buddhism are called Vihdrs. 
The names of the fifteen Vihdrs of Patan are as follows : Tankal- 
Vihdr ; Td- Vihdr, Hak- Vihdr, Bhu- Vihdr, Haran- Varna-Mahd- 
Vihdr, Ritdra- Varna-Mahd- Vihdr, Bhikshu- Vihdr, Sakya- Vihdr, 
Guhya- Vihdr, Shi- Vihdr, Dhom- Vihdr, Un- Vihdr, &c. (see note 
32.) In short, if any Bandya die, and his son erect a temple in his 
name, such structure may be called such an one's (after his name) 
Vihdr. With this distinction, however, that a temple to an emi- 
nent saint is denominated Mahd- Vihdr — one to an ordinary mor- 
tal, simply Vihdr. 

NOTES. 

(1) Here a sloca of the Sambhu Pur ana is quoted in the ori- 
ginal paper ; and it was my first intention to have repeated it on 
the margin of the translation ; but, upon reflection, I believe it 
will be better to observe, that the Sambhu Purdna is a work pe- 
culiar to Nepaul. Many other Bauddha scriptures, however, which 
are not local, and are of high authority, symbolize the forming 
and changing powers of nature by the letters of the alphabet ; and 
ascribe the pre-eminence among these letters to a, u, and m — mak- 
ing the mystic syllable dm, which is not less reverenced by Baud- 
dhas than by Brdhmanas. A, the Bauddhas say, is the Vija 
Mantra of the person Buddha ; U, the Vija Mantra of the per- 
son Dhaema ; and M, that of the person Sanga — and these 
three persons form the Buddhist Triad. 



77 



The Bauddhas, however, differ in their mode of classing the 
three persons. According to the Aishwarikas, the male, Buddha, 
the symbol of generative power, is the first member ; the female, 
Dharma, the type of productive power, is the second ; and 
Sang a, their son, is the third, and represents actual creative pow- 
er, or an active creator and ruler, deriving his origin from the 
union of the essences of Buddha and Dharma. Sanga, accord- 
ing to all the schools, though a member, is an inferior member, of 
the triad. 

(2) Another sloca is here quoted ; but it will not justify the 
language of the text, in which there is some confusion of the 
opposite doctrines of the Aishwarikas and Swabhdvikas. In the 
triad of the latter, the female, Dharma (also called Prajna), the 
type of productive power, is the first member ; Upaya, or Buddha, 
the symbol of generative power, the second ; and Sanga the 
third; their son as before, and the active author of creation, 
or rather the type of that spontaneous creation, which results ne- 
cessarily from the union of the two principles of nature before- 
mentioned. 

Buddha and Prajna united become Upaya Prajna ; or vice 
versa, according to the school, and never as in the text. (For some 
further remarks upon these chief objects of Bauddha worship, see 
Notes 12 and 29.) 

I take this early opportunity to remark that candid criticism 
will compare, and not contrast, the statements made in Notes 10, 
12, 17, 20, and 29, especially with reference to the Swabhdvika 
doctrine. (See Note 16.) 

(3) The deduction of the five Dhydni Buddhas, and the five 
Dhydni Bodhisatwas, from A'di-Buddha, according to the Aisli- 
warika Bauddhas, will be stated farther on. It is a celestial or 
divine creation, and is here improperly mixed with the generative 
creations, theistic and atheistic, of various doctors. 

(4) See Note 23. 

(5) The sloca quoted is from the Pujd Kdnd, which is a mere 
manual of worship, of recent origin, and probably local to Nepaul. 
It professes, however, to be a faithful compilation from the Guna- 



7s 



Kdranda Vyuha, and Kdranda Vyuha. The latter of these is a 
work of respectable authority, and contains the following partial jus- 
tification of the language of the Pujd Kdnd. (Sakya, speaking to his 
disciple Sarvani Varan a Vishkambhi, says,) " In the very dis- 
tant times of Vipasya Buddha I was bom as the son of Suganda 
Mukha, a merchant : in that birth I heard from Vipasyi the fol- 
lowing account of the qualities of Aryavaeokiteshwari (Padma 
Pane) The sun proceeded from one of his eyes : and from the 
other, the moon ; from his forehead Mahadeva ; from between 
his shoulders, Brahma ; from his chest, Vishnu ; from his teeth, 
Sarasv ati ; from his mouth, Vayu ; from his feet, Prithvi ; from 
his navel, Varuna." So many deities issued from Aryavaeo- 
kiteshwara's body. This passage is expanded in the Guna-Kd- 
rand Vytiha, wherein it is added, that when Aryavaeokitesh- 
wara had created Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa, they stood 
before him, and he said to the first, " be thou the lord of Satyagu- 
na and create and to the second, " be thou the lord of Ba- 
jaguna and preserve ;" and to the third, " be thou the lord of 
Tamaguna and destroy." The Guna-Kdranda Vyuha, is how- 
ever a mere amplification of the Kdranda Vyuha, and of much 
less authority. In a passage of the Saraka Dhdra — which is 
not one of the sacred writings of Nepaul, but a work of high 
authority, written by Sarvajna Mitrapada, a Bauddha ascetic 
of Cashmeer — the Hindu deities are made to issue from the 
body of the supreme Prajna just as, according to the Kdranda 
Vyuha, they proceed from that of Padma Pani. 

(6) The authority for these ten mansions is the Dasa Bhu- 
meshwara, one of the nine great works spoken of in the answer 
to the thirteenth question ; and which treats professedly of the 
subject. The thirteen mansions are, however, mentioned in sun- 
dry works of high authority ; and the thirteen grades of the su- 
perior part of the Chaitya (or proper Bauddha temple) are typical 
of the thirteen celestial mansions alluded to in the text. The most 
essential part of the Chaitya is the solid hemisphere ; but the vast 
majority of Chaityas in Nepaul have the hemisphere surmounted 
by a pyramid or cone, called Churd Mani, and invariably divided 
into thirteen grades. 



79 



(7) All this, as well as what follows, is a mere transcript from 
the Brahmanical writings. There is, nevertheless, authority for 
it in the Bauddha scriptures. The Bauddhas seem to have adopt- 
ed without hesitation the cosmography and chronology of the 
Brahmans, and also a large part of their pantheon. They freely 
confess to have done so at this day. The favourite Brahmanical 
deities accepted by the Buddhists are, of males : Maha Kala, In- 
dra, Ganesa, Hanuman, and the triad. Of females : Lakshmi 
and Saras vati. The Hindu triad are considered by the Buddhists 
as the mere servants of the Buddhas and B6dhisatwas, and only 
entitled to such reverence as may seem fit to be paid to faithful 
servants of so high masters. Of the origin of these deities, accord- 
ing to the Bauddha books, I have already given one account, and 
referred to another. The notions of the three gunas and of the crea- 
tion, &c. by the Brahmanic triad as the delegates of the Bodhi- 
satwas, I look upon to be modern inventions. According to ge- 
nuine Buddhism, the Bodhisaticas are, each in his turn, the active 
agents of the creation and government of the world. 

(8) An important historical person, and the apparent introducer 
of Buddhism into Nepaul. (See note 30). 

(9) This is a most curious legend. I have not yet seen the 
Tantra whence it professes to be extracted, and suspect that the 
legend was stolen from our Bible, by some inhabitant of Nepaul, 
who had gathered a confused idea of the Mosaic history of the ori- 
gin and fall of mankind from the Jesuit missionaries, formerly re- 
sident in this valley ; or perhaps the legend in question was deriv- 
ed from some of those various corrupt versions of the biblical 
story which have been current among the Jews and Moslems of 
Asia for many centuries. 

(10) This limited reply is the fault of my friend and not of his 
books. Matter is called Prakritti by the Buddhists, as well as by 
the Brahmans. The Swabhavika school of Bauddha philosophy 
(apparently the oldest school) seems to have considered matter as 
the sole entity, to have ascribed to it all the attributes of deity, 
and to have assigned to it two modalities ; one termed nirvritti, 
and the other pravritti. (See note 12.) To speak more precisely, 



SO 



the above is rather the doctrine of the Prajnika Swabhdvikas than 
of the simple Sivabhdvikas : for the former unitize the active and 
intelligent powers of nature, the latter do not unitize them ; and 
prefer to all other symbols of those dispersed powers of nature the 
letters of the alphabet generally, and without much regard to the 
pre-eminence of a, u, and m. Indeed, it is probable that the 
mystic syllable Aum is altogether a comparatively recent importa- 
tion into Buddhism. The Lotos is a very favourite type of crea- 
tive power with all the Bauddhas; and accordingly representations 
of it occur in a thousand places, and in as many forms in the 
Bauddha sculptures and architecture ; for which, see the drawings 
which accompany this sketch, passim. 

(11) The sloca quoted is from a modern little manual of Pujd. I 
have not seen any adequate original authority ; but the Aishwdrika 
Buddhists, who maintained an eternal, infinite, intellectual A'di- 
Buddha, in all probability made the human soul an emanation 
from him ; and considered M6ksha a retnanation to him. 

(12) The Swabhdvikas, the name assumed by one of the four 
schools of Bauddha philosophy, and apparently the oldest, are di- 
vided into two sects ; one called Sivabhdvikas simply, the other 
Prajnika Swabhdvikas. The former maintain that an eternal re- 
volution of entity and non-entity is the system of nature, or of 
matter, which alone exists. The Prdjnikas deify matter as the 
sole substance, and give it two modes, the abstract and the con- 
crete : in the former, they unitize the active and intelligent powers 
held to be inherent in matter, and make this unit deity. Such is 
the abstract or proper mode, which is unity, immutability, rest, 
bliss. The second is the contingent or concrete mode, or that of 
actual, visible, nature. To this mode belong action, multiplicity, 
change, pain. It begins by the energies of matter passing from 
their proper and eternal state of rest into their contingent and 
transitory state of action ; and ends when those energies resume 
their proper modality. The proper mode is called nirvritti ; the 
contingent mode pravritti. The powers of matter cannot be des- 
cribed in their proper state of abstraction and unity. In the lat- 
ter state, all the order and beauty of nature are images of their 



81 



quality : they are also symbolized by the Ydni, and personified as 
a female divinity called A'di-Prajna and A'di-Dharma. Man's 
summum bonum is to pass from the transmigrations incident to the 
state of pravritti into the eternal rest or bliss of nirvritti. The 
Triadic doctrine of all the schools is referable solely to pravritti. 
In the state of nirvritti, with some of the Aishwdrikas, Buddha 
represents intellectual essence and the then sole entity; with 
others of the Aishwdrikas Dharma, or material essence exists 
biunely with Buddha in nirvritti, the two being in that state one. 
With the Prajnikas Prajna, in the state of nirvritti, is the sum- 
mum et solum numen, Diva Natura — the sum of all the intellectual 
and physical forces of matter, considered as the sole entity, and 
held to exist in the state of nirvritti abstracted from palpable ma- 
terial s ubsta nee, eternally, unchangeably, and essentially one. When 
this essential principle of matter passes into the state of pravritti, 
Buddha, the type of active power, first proceeds from it and then 
associates with it, and from that association results the actual vi- 
sible world. The principle is feigned to be a female, first the 
mother, and then the wife, of the male Buddha. (For a glimpse 
at the esoteric sense of these senigmas, see note 29.) 

(13) The work cited is of secondary authority; but the mode 
of reasoning exhibited in the text is to be found in all Bauddha 
works which treat of the Swabhdvika doctrine.. 

(14) This is the name of the Theistic school of the Bauddha 
philosophers. The Sambhu Purdna and Guna-Kdranda Vyuha 
contain the least obscure enunciation of Theism — and these books 
belong to Nepaul. Other Bauddha scriptures, however, which 
are not local, contain abundant expressions capable of a Theistic in- 
terpretation. Even those Bauddha philosophers who have insist- 
ed that matter is the sole entity, have ever magnified the wisdom 
and power of nature : and doing so, they have reduced the differ- 
ence of theism and atheism almost to a nominal one : so, at least, 
they frequently affirm. 

The great defect of all the schools is the want of Providence 
and of dominion in their causa causarum, though the comparatively 

K 



% 



82 



recent Kdrmikas and Ydtnikas appear to have attempted to reme- 
dy this defect. (See the following note.) 

(15) Of two of the four schools of Bauddha philosophy, name- 
ly, the Swabhdvika and Aishwdrika, I have already said a few 
words : the two remaining schools are denominated the Kdrmika 
and Ydtnika — froni the words Karma, meaning moral action ; and 
Yatna, signifying intellectual force, skilful effort. The proper 
topics of these two schools seem to me to be confined to the phe- 
nomena of human nature — its free-will, its sense of right and 
wrong, and its mental power. To the wisdom of Swabhava, or 
Pra jna, or A'di-Buddha, the Bauddhas, both Swabhdvikas and 
Aishioarikas, had assigned that eternal necessary connexion of vir- 
tue and felicity in which they alike believed. It remained for the 
Kdrmikas and Ydtnikas to discuss how each individual free-willed 
man might most surely hope to realize that connexion in regard 
to himself ; whether by the just conduct of his understanding, or 
by the proper cultivation of his moral sense ? And the Ydtnikas 
seem to have decided in favour of the former mode ; the Kdrmi- 
kas, in favour of the latter. Having settled these points, it was 
easy for the Ydtnikas and Kdrmikas to exalt their systems by link- 
ing them to the throne of the causa causarum — to which they 
would be the more readily impelled, in order to remove from 
their faith the obloquy so justly attaching to the ancient Prdjnika, 
and even to the Aishwarika school, because of the want of Pro- 
vidence and of Dominion in their first cause. That the Kdrmikas 
and Ydtnikas originally limited themselves to the phenomena of 
human nature, I think probable, from the circumstances that, out 
of some forty slocas which I have had collected to illustrate the 
doctrines of these schools, scarcely one goes beyond the point of 
whether man's felicity is secured by virtue or by intellect ? And 
that, when these schools go further (as I have the evidence of two 
quotations from their books that they sometimes do), the trespass- 
ing on ground foreign to their systems seems obvious ; thus in 
the Divya Avaddn, Sakya says, " from the union of Upaya and 
Prajna arose manas — the lord of the senses ; and from manas 
or mind proceeded good and evil and this union of Upaya and 



83 



Frajna is then declared to be a Karma. And in the same work, in 
regard to the Ydtnika doctrine, it is said, "Ishwara (i. e. A'di- 
Buddha) produced YATNAfrom Prajna, and the cause of pravritti 
and nirvritti is Yatna ; and all the difficulties that occur in the 
affairs of this world or of the next are rendered easy by Yatna." 
Impersonality and quiescence were the objections probably made 
to the first cause of the Prdjnikas and Aishwarikas ; and it was to 
remove these objections that the more recent Kdrmikas and Ydt- 
nikas feigned conscious moral agency (Karma), and conscious in- 
tellectual agency ( Yatna) to have been with the causa causarum 
(whether material or immaterial) from the beginning. Of all the 
schools, the Kdrmikas and Ydtnikas alone seem to have been 
duly sensible of man's free-will, and God's moral attributes. The 
Kdrmika confession of faith is, " Purvajanma Kritang Karma tad 
Daivyam iti Kathyate," which may be very well translated by our 
noble adage, " conduct is fate." Such sentiments of human na- 
ture naturally inclined them to the belief of immaterial existences, 
and accordingly they will be found to attach themselves in theo- 
logy chiefly to the Aishwarika school. 

(16) This is the divine creation alluded to in the third note. 
The eternal, infinite and intellectual A'di-Buddha possesses, as 
proper to his own essence, five sorts of wisdom. From these he, 
by five separate acts of Dhydn, created the five Dhydni Buddhas, 
to whom he gave the virtue of thaijndna whence each derived 
his origin. These five Dhydni Buddhas again created, each of 
them, a Dhydni Bodhisatwa by the joint efficacy of the j?idn re- 
ceived from A'di-Buddha, and of an act of his own Dhydn. 

The five Dhydni Buddhas are, like A'di-Buddha, quiescent — 
and the active work of creation and rule is devolved on the 
Bodhisatwas. This creation by Dhydn is eminently characteristic 
of Buddhism — but whose Dhydn possesses creative power ? that 
of an eternal A'di-Buddha, say the Aishwarikas of the Sdmbhd 
Parana — that of any Buddha, even a Mdnushi or mortal Buddha, 
say the Swabhdvikas. The Bauddhas have no other notion of 
creation (than that by Dhydn), which is not generative. 

(17) These terms are common to all the schools of Bauddua 

K 2 



84 



philosophy ; with the Aishimrikas, nirvritti is the state in which 
mind exists independent of matter ; pravritti, the state in which 
it exists while mixed with matter. With the simple Swabhavikas 
the former term seems to import non-entity ; the latter, entity. 
With the Prdjnika Sivabhdvikas, the former term signifies the 
state in which the active and intellectual power of matter exists 
abstractedly from visible nature ; the latter, imports the manner 
or state in which the same power exists in connexion with visi- 
ble nature. The Moksha of the first is absorption into A'di- 
Buddha ; of the second, absorption into Shunya ; of the third, 
identification with Prajna. In a word, nirvritti means abstrac- 
tion, and pravritti, concretion— from nirvdn is formed nirvritti, but 
pravritti has no pravdn. 

(18) If so, I am afraid few Bauddhas can be called wise. The 
doctrine of the text in this place is that of the Aishwarikas, set 
off to the best advantage : the doctrine incidentally objected is to 
that of the Swabhavikas and Prdjnikas. Sir W. Jones assures 
us that the Hindus " consider creation (I should here prefer the 
word change) rather as an energy than as a work." This re- 
mark is yet more true in regard to the old Bauddha philosophers : 
and the mooted point with them is, what energy creates ? an ener- 
gy mtrinsic in some archetypal state of matter, or extrinsic ? 
The old Bauddha philosophers seem to have insisted that there is 
no sufficient evidence of immaterial entity. But, what is truly 
remarkable, some of them, at least, have united with that dogma 
a belief in moral and intellectual operations ; nor is there one 
tenet so diagnostic of Buddhism as that which insists that man is 
capable of extending his moral and intellectual faculties to infinity. 
True it is, as Mr. Colebrooke has remarked, that the Hindu phi- 
losophy recognizes this dogma — coldly recognizes it, and that is 
all : whereas, the Bauddhas have pursued it into its most extrava- 
gant consequences, and made it the corner-stone of their faith 
and practice. (See note 29.) 

(19) I have not yet found that these Dhydni Buddhas of the 
Theistic school do any thing. They seem to be mere personifica- 
tions, according to a Theistic theory, of the active and intellectual 



So 



powers of nature — and hence are called Panch Bhuta, Panch In- 
driya, and Panch Ayatan-AUkdr. 

It may seem contrary to this notion of the quiescence of the 
five Dhydni Buddhas, that, according at least to some Nepaul 
works, each of them has a Sakti. Vairochana's is Vajra-Dha- 
teshwari ; Akshobhya' s, Lochand ; Ratna Sambhava's, Md- 
mukhi ; Amitabha's, Pdndard; Amogha Slddha's, Tdrd. But 
I apprehend that these Buddha- Sakties are peculiar to Nepaul ; and 
though I have found their names, I have not found that they do 
any thing. 

There is indeed a secret and filthy system of Buddhas and 
Buddha- Sakties, in which the ladies act a conspicuous part ; and 
according to which, A'di-Buddha is styled Yogambara ; and A'di- 
Dharma, Jndn-Eshwari. But this system has only been recent- 
ly revealed to me, and I cannot say more of it at present. 

(20) According to the Aishwarikas : the Swabhdvikas say, into 
Akdsh and Shunyatd ; the Prdjnikas, into A'di-Prajna. The Swa- 
bhdvika doctrine of Shunyatd is the darkest corner of their meta- 
physical labyrinth. It cannot mean strictly nothingness, since 
there are seven degrees of Shunyatd, whereof the first is Akdsh : 
and Akdsh is so far from being deemed nothingness that it is again 
and again said to be the only real substance. Language sinks un- 
der the expression of the Bauddha abstractions ; and by their 
Shunyatd I understand sometimes the place, and sometimes the 
form, in which the infinitely attenuated elements of all things ex- 
ist in their state of separation from the palpable system of na- 
ture. 

N. B. The images of all the seven great Mdnushi Buddhas, re- 
ferred to in the answer to the 7th question, are exactly similar to 
that of Sakya Sinha, the seventh of them. This image very 
nearly resembles that of Akshobhya, the second Dhydni Buddha. 
The differences are found only in the supporters, and in the cog- 
nizances {ehinas.) When coloured there is a more remarkable 
diagnosis, Akshobhya being blue, and Sakya and the other six 
Mdnushis yellow. 

(21) The Sambhu Pur ana says, manifested in Nepaul in the 



86 



form of flame (Jyoti rupa.) According to the same work, A'di- 
Dharma's (or Prajna's) manifestation in Nepaul is in the form 
of water (jal surupa.) 

(22) This is the true solution of a circumstance which has caus- 
ed much idle speculation : though the notion is, no doubt, an odd 
one for a sect which insists on tonsure ! 

(23) These are Padma Pani's names in his character of active 
creator and governor of the present world. Three Dhydni Bodhi- 
satwas preceded him in that character, and one (the fifth) re- 
mains to follow him. 

(24) I have already stated that these deities, conformably with 
the quiescent genius of Buddhism, do nothing ; they are merely 
the medium through which creative power is communicated to 
the Bodhisatwas from Ajdi-Buddha. It is the Bodhisatwas alone 
who exercise that power, one at a time, and each in his turn, It 
is a ludicrous instance of Bauddha contempt for action, that some 
recent writers have made a fourth delegation of active power to 
the three gods of the Hindu Triad. 

(25) Until he attained bddhijndna ; and even then, while yet 
lingering in the flesh, he got the name of Sakya Sinha. This 
name has caused some speculation, on the asserted ground of its 
not being Indian. The Bauddha scriptures differ as to the city 
in which Sakya was born ; but all the places named are Indian. 
They also say that the Shakvansa was an Indian race or family ; 
as was the Gotamavansa, in which also Sakya was once born. 

(25 bis) This must be received with some allowance. The 
Lalita Vistdrd gives ample details of Sakya' s numberless births 
and acts, but is nearly silent as to the origin or actions of his six 
great predecessors : and the like is true of many other Bauddha 
scriptures. 

(26) These works are regularly worshipped in Nepaul as the 
" Nava Dharma." They are chiefly of a narrative kind. The 
most important work of the speculative kind now extant in Ne- 
paul is the Raksha Bhagavati, consisting of no less than 125,000 
slocas. This is a work of philosophy rather than of religion, 
and its spirit is sceptical to the very verge of pyrrhonism. The 



87 



Bauddhas of Nepaul hold it in the highest esteem, and I have 
sent three copies of it to Calcutta. Its arrangement, at least, and 
reduction to writing, are attributed (as are those of all the other 
Bauddha scriptures) to Sakya Sinha. Whatever the Buddhas 
have said, (sugutai desitd) is an object of worship with the Baud- 
dhas. Sakya having collected these words of the Buddhas, and 
secured them in a written form, they are now worshipped under 
the names Sutra and Dharma. The aggregation of nine Dhar- 
mas is for ritual purposes ; but why the nine specified works have 
been selected to be thus peculiarly honoured I cannot say. They 
are probably the oldest and most authentic scriptures existing in 
Nepaul, though this conjecture is certainly opposed to the rever- 
ence expressed for the Raksha Bhagavati, by the Buddhists. 
That work (as already stated) is of vast extent, containing no less 
than 125,000 slocas, divided into five equal parts or khands, which 
are known by the names of the five Pdramitas and the five Rak- 
shas. 

(27) The three first sins should be rendered, all destruction of 
life, all taking without right, and all sexual commerce whatever. 
The ten are the cardinal sins of Buddhism, and will bear a very 
favourable comparison with the five cardinal sins of Brahman- 
ism. 

(28) The Buddhas mentioned in the Bauddha scriptures are 
innumerable. Many of them, however, are evident non-entities 
in regard to history. Even the Buddhas of mortal mould are 
vastly numerous, and of various degrees of power and rank. 
These degrees are three, entitled, Pratyeka, Sravaka, and Maha 
Ydnika. Sakya Sinha is often said to be the seventh and last 
Mdnushi Buddha who has yet reached the supreme grade of the 
Maha Ydnika. In the Lalita Vistdra, there is a formal enumera- 
tion of the perfections in knowledge and virtue requisite for at- 
taining to each of these three grades — a monstrously impractica- 
ble and impious array of human perfectibility ! The three grades 
are known by the collective name of " Tri Jdna," or " Tri 
Ydna." 

(29) Genuine Buddhism never seems to contemplate any mea- 



sures of acceptance with the deity ; but, overleaping the barrier 
between finite and infinite mind, urges its followers to aspire by 
their own efforts to that divine perfectibility of which it teaches 
that man is capable, and by attaining which man becomes God — 
and thus is explained both the quiescence of the imaginary celes- 
tial, and the plenary omnipotence of the real Mdnushi Buddhas 
— thus too we must account for the fact, that genuine Buddhism 
has no priesthood : the saint despises the priest ; the saint scorns 
the aid of mediators, whether on earth or in heaven : " conquer 
(exclaims the adept or Buddha to the novice or Bodhi-Satwa) — 
conquer the importunities of the body, urge your mind to the 
meditation of abstraction, and you shall, in time, discover the 
great secret (Prajna) of nature ; know this, and you become, on 
the instant, whatever priests have feigned of Godhead — you become 
identified with Prajna, the sum of all the power and all the wis- 
dom which sustain and govern the world, and which, as they are 
manifested out of matter, must belong solely to matter;, not indeed 
in the gross and palpable state of pravritti, but in the archetypal and 
pure state of nirvritti. Put off therefore the vile, pravrittika neces- 
sities of the body, and the no less vile affections of the mind ; urge 
your thoughts into pure abstraction (Dhydn), and then, as assuredly 
you can, so assuredly you shall, attain to the wisdom of a Buddha 
(Bodhijnan), and become associated with the eternal unity and rest 
of nirvrittir Such, I believe, is the esoteric doctrine of the Praj- 
nikas — that of the Swabhavikas is nearly allied to it, but more ti- 
mid and sceptical ; they too magnify the wisdom and power of 
nature so abundantly diffused throughout pravritti, but they 
seem not to unitize that wisdom and power in the state of nirvritti, 
and incline to conceive of nirvritti, as of a state of things concern- 
ing which nothing can be predicated ; but which, even though it 
be nothingness (Shunyata), is at least a blissful rest to man, other- 
wise doomed to an eternity of transmigrations through all forms 
of visible nature : and while the Swabhavikas thus underrated the 
nirvritti of the Prajnikas, it is probable that they compensated 
themselves by magnifying, more than the Prajnikas did, that pra- 
vrittika omnipotence of which the wise man ( Buddha') is capable, 



89 



even upon earth. It has been already stated that the second per- 
son of the Prajnika Triad is denominated Buddha and Upaya ; 
of which terms the esoteric sense is this : Every man possesses in 
his understanding, when properly cultivated according to the rules 
of Buddhism, the means or expedient ( Upaya) of discovering the 
supreme wisdom of nature {Prajna), and of realizing, by this 
discovery in his own person, a plenary omnipotence or divinity! 
which begins even while he yet lingers in the flesh (in pravritti) ; 
but which is not fully accomplished till he passes, by the body's 
decay, into the eternal state of nirvritti. 

And as the wisdom of man is, in its origin, but an effluence of 
the Supreme wisdom {Prajna) of nature, so is it perfected by a 
refluence to its source, but without loss of individuality : whence 
Prajna is feigned in the exoteric system to be both the mother 
and the wife of all the Buddhas, "janani sarva Buddha" and 
" Jin-sandari ;" for the efflux is typified by a birth, and the reflux 
by a marriage. 

The Buddha is the adept in the wisdom of Buddhism {Bodhi- 
jndn) whose first duty, so long as he remains on earth, is to com- 
municate his wisdom to those who are willing to receive it. These 
willing learners are the " Bodhisatwas," so called from their hearts 
being inclined to the wisdom of Buddhism, and " Sangas," from 
their companionship with one-another, and with their Buddha or 
teacher, in the Vihdrs or ccenobitical establishments. 

And such is the esoteric interpretation of the third (and infe- 
rior) member of the Prajnika Triad. The Bodhisatwa or Sanga 
continues to be such until he has surmounted the very last grade 
of that vast and laborious ascent by which he is instructed that 
he can " scale the heavens," and pluck immortal wisdom from its 
resplendent source : which achievement performed, he becomes a 
Buddha, that is, an Omniscient Being, and a Tathdgata — a title 
implying the accomplishment of that gradual increase in wisdom 
by which man becomes a Buddha. These doctrines are very ob- 
scurely indicated in the Bauddha scriptures, whose words have 
another more obvious and very different sense; nor, but for the 
ambition of the commentators to exhibit their learning, would it be 

L 



90 



easy to gather the esoteric sense of the words of most of the origi- 
nal scriptures. I never was more surprised than when my old 
friend recently (after a six years' acquaintance) brought to me, 
and explained, a valuable comment upon a passage in the Prajna 
Pdramita. Let me add in this place, that I desire all searchers 
after the doctrine of Bddhijndn to look into the Bauddha scrip- 
tures, and judge for themselves ; and to remember, meanwhile, 
that I am not a Sanscrit scholar, and am indebted for all I have 
gathered from the books of the Buddhists to the mediation of 
my old Bauddha friend, and of my Pundit. 

(30) Their physiognomy, their language, their architecture, 
civil and religious, their notions in regard to women, and several 
less important traits in their manners and customs, seem to decide 
that the origin of the greater part of the Newars must be assign- 
ed to the north : and in the Sambhu Piirdna, a Bauddha teacher 
named Man j-Ghosh, and Manj-Nath and Manjusri, is stated to 
have led a colony into Nepaul from China ; to have cleared Nepaul 
of the waters which then covered it ; to have made the country ha- 
bitable ; to have built a temple to Jyoti-rup-A'di-Buddha ; and 
established Dharmakar (whom he brought with him) as first Raja 
of Nepaul. But I nevertheless suppose (upon the authority of tra- 
dition) that Nepaul received some colonists from India ; and that 
some of the earliest propagators of Buddhism in Nepaul came to the 
valley direct from India. Be that as it may, the Indian origin of 
Nepaulese Buddhism (whether it reached the valley direct, or via 
Bhote or China) seems to be unquestionable from the fact that all 
the great Saugaia scriptures of Nepaul are written in the Sanscrit 
language. From the gradual decay of literature and of a know- 
ledge of Sanscrit among the Newars has resulted the practice, 
now very common, of translating ritual Works into the vernacular 
tongue ; and also the usage of adding to the original Sanscrit of 
such works comments in the vulgar language. The great scrip- 
tures however have never been subjected to the former process ; 
seldom to the latter ; for owing to Sanscrit having always been 
considered by the Buddhists of Nepaul the language of literature, 
they have neglected to cultivate their vernacular tongue ; nor does 



there exist to this day a dictionary or grammar of the NewarMan,- 
guage. 

(31) Of course therefore the Bauddhas of Nepaul have not 
■properly any diversity of caste ; that is^ any indelible distinction of 
ranks derived from birth, and necessarily carried to the grave. 
Genuine Buddhism proclaims the equality of all followers of Bud- 
dha — seems to deny to them the privilege of pursuing worldly avo- 
cations, and abhors the distinction of clergy and laity. All proper 
Bauddhas are Bandy as •; and all Bandy as are equal as brethren 
in the faith. They are properly all ascetics — some solitary, mostly 
ccenobitical. Their convents are called Vihdrs. The rule of these 
Vihdrs is a rule of freedom; and the door of every Vihdr is al- 
ways open, both to the entrance of new comers, and to the depar r 
ture of such of their old inmates as are tired of their vows. Each 
Vihdr has a titular superior, whose authority over his brethren de- 
pends only on their voluntary deference to his superior learning or 
piety. Women are held equally worthy of admission with men, 
and each sex has its Vihdrs. 

The old Bauddha scriptures enumerate four sorts of Bandy as 9 
named Arhan, Bhikshu, Srdvaka and Chailakq, who are correctly 
described in the text ; and from that description it will be seen 
that there is no essential distinction between them, the Arhan 
being only segregated from the rest by his superior proficiency in 
Bodhijndn. Of these the proper institutes of Buddhism, ther§ 
remains hardly a trace in Neoaul. The very names of the Arhan 
and Chailaka have passed away — the names, and the names only, 
pf the other two exist ; and out of the gradual, and now total, 
disuse of monastic institutes, an exclusive minister of the altar, de- 
nominated Vajra A' chary a, has derived his name, office, and exist- 
ence in Nepaul, not only without sanction from the Bauddha scrip- 
tures, but in direct opposition to their spirit and tendency. Nepaul 
is still covered with Vihdrs ; but these ample and comfortable abodes 
have long resounded with the hum of industry and the plea- 
sant voices of women and children. The superior ministry of 
religion is now solely in the hands of the Bandy as, entitled, Vaj* 
ra- A chary a in Sanscrit ; Gubhdlm Newari : the inferior ministry^ 

L 2 



92 



such Bhikshus as still follow religion as a lucrative and learned pro- 
fession, are competent to discharge. And these professions of the 
Vajra Achdrya, and of the Bhikshu, have become by usage here- 
ditary, as have all other avocations and pursuits, whether civil or 
religious, in Nepaul. And as in the modern corrupt Buddhism 
of Nepaul there are exclusive ministers of religion or priests, so are 
there many Bauddhas who retain the lock on the crown of the head, 
and are not Bandy as. These improper Bauddhas are called Udds: 
they never dwell in the Vihdrs, look up to the Bandy as with a rever- 
ential respect derived from the misapplication of certain ancient 
tenets, and follow those trades and avocations which are compara- 
tively disreputable (among which is foreign commerce); while 
the Bandyas, who have abandoned the profession of religion, 
practise those crafts which are most esteemed. Agriculture is 
equally open to both ; but is, in fact, chiefly followed by the Udds, 
who have thus become, in course of time, more numerous than 
the Bandyas, notwithstanding the early abandonment by the 
Bandyas of those ascetical practices which their faith enjoins, the 
resort of the greater part of them to the active business of the 
world, and their usurpation of all the liberal, and three-fourths 
of the mechanical arts of their country ; for the Bandyas have 
the exclusive inheritance of thirty-six professions and trades ; the 
Udds, that of seven trades only. The Vajra Achdrya and Bhik^ 
shu are the religious guides and priests of both Bandyas and Udds. 
All Bandyas, whatever be the profession or trade they hereditarily 
exercise, are still equal ; they intermarry, and communicate in all 
the social offices of life — and the like is true of all Udds — but between 
the one class and the other, growing superstition has erected an 
insuperable barrier. To the above remarks it may be well to add, 
that Buddhists, of some one or other of the above denominations, 
comprise the vast majority of the Newar race, and that the minor- 
ity, are Saivas ; but in a sense peculiar to themselves, and with 
which my subject does not entitle me here to meddle. 

(33) The names are almost all barbarous ; that is, not derived 
from Sanscrit, but from Newari. I have not thought it worth 
while to enumerate any more of these examples. The Vihdr is 



built round a large quadrangle, or open square, two stories high \ 
the architecture is Chinese. Chaitya properly means a temple of 
Buddha, and Vihdr an abode of ccenobitical followers of Buddha. 
In the open square in the midst of every Vihdr, is placed a ChaiU 
ya — but those words always bear the senses here attached to 
them ; and Vihdr can never be construed temple — it is a convent, 
or monastery, or religious house, but never templum Dei vel 
Buddha. At the base of the hemisphere of every Nepaul Chaitya 
are placed the images of the Dhyani Buddha s. The Chaitya 
has often been blended with sundry structures, more or less ap«* 
propriate to Buddhism. 

To conclude : with respect to the notes- — that portion of this 
sketch, which is my own — no one can be more sensible than I am 
that the first half contains a sad jumble of cloudy metaphysics. 
How far the sin of this indistinctness is mine, and how far that 
of my original authorities, I cannot pretend to decide ; but am 
ready to take a large share of it to myself. In regard to this, 
the most speculative part of Buddhism, it is sufficient happiness 
for me to have discovered and placed within the reach of my 
countrymen the materials for more accurate investigation, by 
those who have leisure, patience, and a knowledge of languages 
for the undertaking ; and who, with competent talents, will be 
kind enough to afford the world the benefit of so irksome an ex- 
ercise of them. 

But I trust that the latter half of the notes, which embraces 
topics more practical and more within the range of the favourite 
pursuits of my leisure, will not be found wanting in distinctness ; 
and I can venture confidently to warrant the accuracy of the in- 
formation contained in it. 



94 



No. III. 

QUOTATIONS FROM ORIGINAL SANSCRIT AUTHORITIES IN PROOF 
AND ILLUSTRATION OF MR. HODGSON'S SKETCH OF BUDDHISM, 

(Printed from the Bengal Asiatic Journal, Nos. 49 and 50, A, D. 1836,) 

Preface. 

Several distinguished orientalists having, whilst they applauded 
the novelty and importance of the information conveyed by my 
Sketch of Buddhism,* called upon me for proofs, I have been in- 
duced to prepare for publication the following translation of sig- 
nificant passages from the ancient books of the Saugatas, which 
still are extant in Nepaul in the original Sanscrit. 

These extracts were made for me (whilst I was collecting the 
worksf in question) some years ago by Amirta Nanda Bandy a, 
the most learned Buddhist then, or now, living in this country ; 
they formed the materials from which chiefly I drew my sketch ; 
and they would have been long since communicated to the public, 
had the translator felt sufficiently confident of his powers, or suf- 
ficiently assured that enlightened Europeans could be brought to 
tolerate the 6 ingens indigestaque moles' of these * original autho- 
rities ;' which however, in the present instance, are original in a 
far higher and better sense than those of De Koros, or even of 

* Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of London necnon, Transac- 
tions of Bengal Society, vol. xvi. 

f The collection comprises, besides 60 volumes in Sanscrit., procured in Ne.~ 
paul, the very names of which had previously been unknown, some 250 vo r 
lumes, in the language of Tibet, which were obtained from Lassa and Digar- 
chi. But for the existence of the latter at Calcutta, Mr. De Koros's attain- 
ments in Tibetan lore had been comparatively useless. The former or Sans- 
crit books of Nepaul are the authorities relied on in this paper. Since the first 
collection was made in Nepaul, very many new works in the Sanscrit language 
have been discovered and are yet daily under discovery. The probability now 
is, that the entire Kahgyur and Stangyur may be recovered, in the original 
language. The whole series has been obtained in that of Tibet, 327 large 
volumes. 



95 

Upham. Without stopping to question whether the sages who 
formed the Bauddha system of philosophy and religion used Sans- 
crit or high Preterit, or both, or seeking to determine the conse- • 
quent pretension of Mr. Upham's authorities to be considered 
original,* it may be safely said, that those of Mr. De Koros 
can support no claims of the kind. 

The native works which the latter gentleman relies on are 
avowedly Tibetan translations of my Sanscrit originals, and who- 
ever will duly reflect upon the dark and profound abstractions, 
and the infinite-simaHy-multiplied and microscopically-distin- 
guished personifications of Buddhism, may well doubt whether the 
language of Tibet does or can adequately sustain the weight that 
has been laid upon it. 

Sanscrit, like its cognate Greek, may be characterised as a speech 
" capable of giving a soul to the objects of sense, and body to the 
abstractions of metaphysics." But, as the Tibetan language can 
have no pretensions to a like power, those who are aware that the 
Saugatas taxed the whole powers of the Sanscrit to embody in 

* These authorities however, even if allowed to be original, appear to con- 
sist entirely of childish legends. I allude to the three published volumes. The 
received hypothesis, viz. that the philosophers of Ayudhya and Magadha, 
(the acknowledged founders of Buddhism) postponed the use of Sanscrit 
to that of Pracrit, in the original exposition of their subtle system ap- 
pears to me as absurd as it does probable that their successors, as Mission- 
dries, resorted to Pracrit versions of the original Sanscrit authorities, in propa- 
gating the system in the remotest parts of the continent and in Ceylon. On 
this ground, I presume the Pracrit works of Ceylon and Ava to be translations, 
not originals : — a presumption so reasonable that nothing but the production 
from Ceylon or Ava of original Pracrit works, comparable in importance with 
the Sanscrit books discovered in Nepaul, will suffice to shake it in my mind. 
Sir W. Jones I believe to be the author of the assertion, that the Buddhists 
committed their system to high Pracrit or Pali ; and so long at least as there 
were no Sanscrit works of the sect forthcoming, the presumption was not wholly- 
unreasonable. It is, however, so now. And Sir W. Jones was not unaware 
that Magadha or Bihar was the original head- quarters of Buddhism, nor that 
the best Sanscrit lexicon extant was the work of a Bauddha ; nor that the 
Brahmans themselves acknowledged the pre eminent literary merits of their 
heterodox adversaries. 

But for his Brahmanical bias therefore, Sir William might have come at the 
truth, that the Bauddha philosophers employed the classical language. 



§6 



words their system, will cautiously reserve, I apprehend, for the 
Bauddha books still extant in the classical language of India, the 
title of original authorities. From such works, which, though now 
found only in Nepaul, were composed in the plains of India before 
the dispersion of the sect, I have drawn the accompanying extracts ; 
and though the merits of the " doing into English" may be small 
indeed, they will yet, I hope, be borne up by the paramount and 
(as I suspect) unique authority and originality of my ' ' original 
authorities," a phrase which, by the Way, has been somewhat in- 
vidiously, as well as laxly used and applied in certain quarters. 

It is still, I observe, questioned amongst us, whether Brah* 
manism or Buddhism be the more ancient creed, as well as whe- 
ther the latter be of Indian or extra Indian growth. The Bud- 
dhists themselves have no doubts upon either point. They un- 
hesitatingly concede the palm of superior antiquity to their rivals 
and persecutors, the Brdhmans ; nor do they in any part of the 
world hesitate in pointing to India as the cradle of their faith. 

Formerly we might be pardoned for building fine-spun theories 
of exotic origin of Buddhism upon the African locks of Buddha's 
images : but surely it is now somewhat too late,* in the face of 
the abundant direct evidence which we possess, against the exo- 
tic theory, to go in quest of presumptions to the time-out-of-mind 
illiterate Scythians, in order to give to them the glory of origin- 
ating a system built upon the most subtle philosophy, and all the 
copious original records of which are inshrined in Sanscrit,^ a 
language which, whencesoever primevally derived, had been, 
when Buddhism appeared, for ages proper to the Indian continent. 

The Buddhists make no serious pretensions to a very high an- 
tiquity : never hint at an extra Indian origin. 

* Recent discoveries make it more and more certain, that the cave temples of 
the Western Coast and its vicinity, are exclusively Bauddha. Every part of 
India is illustrated hy splendid remains of Buddhism, 

f The difference between high Pracrit and Sanscrit, could not affect this 
question, though it were conceded that the founders of Buddhism used the 
former and not the latter — a concession however, which should not be facilely 
made, and to which I wholly demur. 



97 



Sakya Sinha is, avowedly, a Kshetriya ; and, if his six prede- 
cessors had really any historical existence, the books which affirm 
it, affirm too, that all the six were of Brdhmanical or Kshetriya 
lineage. Saugata books treating on the subject of caste never call 
in question the antique fact of a fourfold division of the Hindu 
people, but only give a more liberal interpretation to it than the 
current Brdhmanical one of their day.* The Chinese, the Mon- 
gols, the Tibetans^ the Indo-Chinese, the Ceylonese and other 
Indian Islanders, all point to India as the father-land of their 
creed. The records of Buddhism in Nepaul and in Tibet, in both 
of which countries the people and their mother-tongues are of 
the Mongol stock, are still either Sanscrit or avowed translations 
from it by Indian pandits. Nor is there a single record or monu- 
ment of this faith in existence, which bears intrinsic or extrinsic 
evidence of an extra Indian origin, f 

The speculations of a writer of Sir W. Jones's day (Mr. 
Joinvllle), tending to prove, argumentatively, from the charac- 
ters of Buddhism and Brdhmanism, the superior antiquity of the 
former, have been lately revived (see Asiatic Journal, No. CLX.) 
with applause. But besides that fine drawn presumptions are 
idle in the face of such a mass of direct evidence as we now pos- 
sess, the reasonings of Joinville appear to me altogether based 
on errors of fact. Buddhism (to hazard a character in few words), 

* See the Bauddha disputation on caste. Itoyal Asiatic Society's Trans- 
actions. 

f See Crawfurd's remarks, on the purely Indian character of all the great 
sculptural and architectural monuments of Buddhism in Java. Also Barrow's 
remarks to the same effect in his travels in China. The Chinese Pusa is 
Visvarupya Prajna or the polyform type of Diva Natura. See Oriental Quar- 
terly Magazine, No. xvi. pp. 218 — 222, for proofs of the fact that numberless 
Bauddha remains have been mistaken for Brahmanical by our antiquaries, 
and even by the natives. In the same work I have proved this in reference to 
Crawfurd's Archipelago, Oriental Quarterly, No, xvi. pp. 232, 235. 

Yet, no sooner had I shown, from original authorities, how thoroughly Indian 
Buddhism is, than it was immediately exclaimed, 'oh ! this is Nepauhse corrupt 
tion ! these are merely popular grafts from Brahmanism.'' The very same charac- 
ter belongs to the oldest monuments of Buddhism >, extant in India and beyond 
it ; and I have traced that character to the highest scriptural authorities. 

M 



98 



is monastic asceticism in morals, philosophical scepticism in religion ; 
and whilst ecclesiastical history all over the world affords abun- 
dant instances of such a state of things resulting from gross a- 
buse of the religious sanction; that ample chronicle gives us no 
one instance of it as a primitive system of belief. Here is a 
legitimate inference from sound premises. But that Buddhism 
was, in truth, a reform or heresy, and not an original system, can 
be proved by the most abundant direct evidence both of friends 
and of enemies. The oldest Saugata works incessantly allude to 
the existing superstition as the Mdrcharya or way of the serpent, 
contradistinguishing their reformation thereof as the Boddhi-charya 
or way of the wise; and the Brdhmanical impugners of those works 
(who, upon so plain a fact, could not lie), invariably speak of Bud- 
dhism as a notorious heresy. 

An inconsiderable section of the Saugatas alone, ever held the 
bold doctrine of mortal souls : and the Swdbhdvika denial of a 
creation of matter by the fiat of an absolutely immaterial being, 
springs, not out of the obesity of barbarian dulness, but out of the 
over refinement of philosophical ratiocination. Joinville's idea of 
the speculative tenets of Buddhism is utterly erroneous. Many 
of them are bad indeed : but they are of philosophy all compact 
profoundly and painfully subtle, sceptical too, rather than atheisti- 
cally dogmatic. 

At the risk of being somewhat miscellaneous in this preface, I 
must allude to another point. The lamented Abel Remus at sent 
me, just before he died, a copy of his essay on the Saugata doc- 
trine of the Triad ; and Mr. Upham, I find, has deduced from 
Remusat's interpretation of that doctrine, the inference (which 
he supports by reference to sundry, expressions in the sacred books 
of Ceylon), that I am in error in denying that Buddhism, in its 
first, and most characteristic form, admits the distinction of Clerus 
et Laicus. It is difficult expressly to define that distinction ; but 
it may be seen in all its breadth in Brdhmanism and in Popery ; 
whilst in Islamism, and in the most enthusiastic of the Chris- 
tian sects, which sprung out of the Reformation, it is wholly lost. 



99 



According to my view, Apostolic Christianity recognised it not ;* 
the congregation of the faithful, the Church, was a society of peers, 
of brethren in the faith, all essentially equal, in gifts, as in place 
and character. On earth, there were no indispensable mediators, 
no exclusive professional ones ; and such alone I understand to be 
priests. Again, genuine monachism all over the world, I hold to 
be, in its own nature, essentially opposed to the distinction of clergy- 
man and layman, though we all know that monastic institutions no 
sooner are rendered matters of public law and of extensive popu- 
lar prevalence, than, ex vi necessitatis, the distinction in question 
is superinduced upon them, by the major part of the monks lai- 
cising, and the rest becoming clergy.^ There are limits to the 
number of those whom the public can support in idleness : and 
whoso would eat the bread of the public must perform some duty 
to the public. Yet who can doubt that the true monk, whe- 
ther coenobite or solitary, is he who abandons the world to save 
his own soul ; as the true clergyman is he who mixes with the 
world to save the souls of others ? The latter in respect to the 
people or laics has a distinctive function, and, it may be also 
an exclusive one : the former has no function at all. Amongst 
entirely monastic sects, then, the exclusive character of priest is 
objectless and absurd : and who that has glanced an eye over 
ecclesiastical history knows not that in proportion as sects are en- 
thusiastic, they reject and hate, (though nothing tainted with 
monachism) the exclusive pretensions of the clergy ! Whoever 
has been able to go along with me in the above reflections can need 
only to be told that primitive Buddhism was entirely monastic, and 

* I would not be understood to lay stress on this opinon, which is merely ad- 
duced to illustrate my argument. 

f History informs us that, soon after monachism supervened upon our holy 
and eminently social religion, there were in Egypt as many monks almost as 
peasants. Some of these monks necessarily laicised, and the rest became clergy. 
The community of the Gosains and several others, of strictly ascetical origin 
now in India, exhibit the same necessary change after the sects had become 
numerously followed. 



M 2 



100 



of an unboundedly entlmsiastical genius,* to be satisfied that it did 
not recognise the distinction in question. But if, being suspicious 
of the validity of argumentative inferences, he demand of me sim- 
ple facts, here they are. In the Sata Sahasrika, Prajna Paramitd, 
or Racha Bhagavati, and also in the nine Dharmas (the oldest and 
highest written authorities), it is affirmed more or less directly, or is 
clearly deducible from the context, in a thousand passages (for the 
subject is not expressly treated), that the only true followers of 
Buddha are monks, the majority being coenobites, the rest, soli- 
taries. The fullest enumeration of these followers (Bhiksku 
Srdvaka or Srdmana, Chailaka, and Arhata or Arhana or Arhanta) 
proves them to have been all monks, tonsured, subject to the usu- 
al vows, (nature teaching to all mankind that wealth, women and 
power, are the grand tempters,) resident in monasteries ( Vihdr) 
or in deserts, and essentially peers, though of course acknowledging 
the claims of superior wisdom and piety. The true church, the 
congregation of the faithful, is constantly said to consist of such 
only; and I am greatly mistaken indeed if the church in this 
sense be synonymous with the clergy ; or, if the primitive church 
of Buddha recognized an absolutely distinct body such as we (i. e. 
Catholics, Lutherans, and Kirkmen) ordinarily mean when we 
speak of the latter. The first mention of an exclusive, professional 
active, minister of religion, or priest, in the Bauddha books, is in 
those of a comparatively recent date, and not of scriptural authori- 
ty. Therein the Vajra Aclidrya (for so he is called) first appears 
arrayed with the ordinary attributes of a priest. But his charac- 
ter is anomalous, as is that of every thing about him ; and the 
learned Bauddkas of Nepaul at the present day universally admit 
the falling off from the true faith. We have in these books, 
Bhikshus, Srdvakas, Chailakas, and Sakya Vansikas^ bound by 

* Its distinguishing doctrine is that finite mind can be enlarged to infinite; 
all the schools uphold this towering tenet, postponing all others to it. As for 
the scepticism of the Swabhavikas relative to those transcendent marvels, 
creation and providence, it is sufficient to prove its remoteness from " flat 
Atheism," simply to point to the coexistence of the cardinal tenet first named. 

f An inscription at Carli identifies the splendid Sulibahana with the head of the 



101 



their primitive rules for ten days (in memory of the olden time) 
and then released from them ; tonsured, yet married ; ostensibly 
monks, but really citizens of the world. 

From any of the above, the Vajra Achdrya, is drawn indiscri- 
minately ; he keeps the keys of the no longer open treasury ; and 
he is surrounded with untonsured followers, who now present them- 
selves for the first time. I pretend not to trace with historical 
nicety all the changes which marked the progress of Buddhism 
as a public institute and creed of millions up to the period of the 
dispersion : but I am well aware, that the primitive doctrines 
were not, because they could not be, rigidly adhered to, when what 
I hold to have been at first the closet speculation of some philoso- 
phers, had become the dominant creed of large kingdoms. That 
the latter character was, however, assumed by Buddhism in the 
plains of India, long before the dispersion, seems certain ; and, as 
many persons may urge that the thing in question is the domi- 
nant public institute, not the closet speculation, and that whatever 
discipline prevailed before the dispersion must be held for primi- 
tive and orthodox, I can only observe that the ancient books of 
the Saugatas, whilst they glance at such changes as I have advert- 
ed to, do so in the language of censure ; and that upon the whole, 
I still strongly incline to the opinion that genuine or primitive 
Buddhism (so I cautiously phrased it, originally) rejected the dis- 
tinction of Clerus et Laicus ; that the use of the word priest by 
Upham, is generally inaccurate; and that the Sangha of the 

Saka tribe, which is that of Sakya Sinha. The Sakya- Vansikas, or people of 
the race of Sakya, appeared in Nepaul as refugees from Brahman bigotry, some 
time after Buddhism had been planted in these hills. Sakya is universally- 
allowed to have been the son of king Scbdhadana, sovereign of Magadha, or 
Bihar. He is said to have been born in the " Asthan of Kapila Muni" at 
Ganga Sagar, according to some ; in Oude, as others say. His birth place 
was not necessarily within his father's kingdom, He may have been born when 
his father was on a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Saint Kapila. Sakya 
died, according to my authorities, in Assam, and left one son named Rahula 
Bhadra. The Sakas were Kshetriyas of the solar line, according to Bauddha 
authorities : nor is it any proof of the contrary that they appear not in the 
Brahmanical genealogies. See note in the sequel. 



102 



Buddhist triad ought to have been invariably rendered by Remusat 
into ' congregation of the faithful* or 'church,' and never into 
'clergy' or 'priesthood.' Remusat indeed seems to consider 
{Observations, 28-9, and 32), these phrases as synonymous ; and 
yet the question which their discrimination involves is one which, 
in respect to our own religion, has been fiercely agitated for hun- 
dreds of years ; and still, by the very shades of that discrimina- 
tion, chiefly marks the subsisting distinction between the various 
Churches of Christ ! 

Following the authority he has relied on, Mr. Upham was at 
liberty, therefore, to adopt a sense which would consist with my 
interpretation of phrases such as he alluded to, and which, of 
course, I found copiously scattered over the works I consulted. 

I always rendered them advisedly into English, so as to exclude 
the idea of a priesthood, because I had previously satisfied myself, 
by separate inquiry and reflection^ that that cardinal tenet was re- 
pugnant to the genius of the creed, and repudiated by its primi- 
tive teachers. This important point may have been wrongly de- 
termined by me ; but assuredly the determination of it upon such 
grounds as Mr. Upham's is perfectly futile. Such words as 
Arhanta and Bandya, (which, by the way, are the correct forms 
of the Burmese Rahatun and the Chinese Bonze,) no more neces- 
sarily mean, priest, clergy, than do the Latin, fideles and milites, 
as applied to Christianity ; and as for the word Sangha, it is 
indisputable that it does not mean literally priest,* and that it 
does mean literally congregation. 

If, as Remusat and Upham appear to insist is the case, every 
monastic follower of Buddha be a priest, then Bandya or 
Bonze] must be rendered into English by the word ' clergyman.' 

* Observations, p. 92. 

f The possible meaning of this word has employed in vain the sagacity of 
sundry critics. In its proper form of Bandya, it is pure Sanscrit, signifying a 
person entitled to reverence, and is derived from Bandana. 

Equally curious and instructive is it to find in the Sanscrit records of Bud- 
dhism the solution of so many enigmas collected by travellers from all parts of 
Asia; e grege, Elfhinstonk's mound is a genuine Chaitya, and its proper name 



103 



But there will still remain as much difference between Bandya 
and Sangha as, in Christian estimation, between an ordinary par- 
son of the present day, and one of the inspired primitive professors. 
Of old, the spirit descended upon all alike ; and Sangha was this 
hallowed and gifted congregation. But the glory has passed 
away, and the term been long sanctified and set apart. So has, 
in part, and for similar reasons, the word Arhata. But Bandya, 
as a generic title, and Bhikshu, Srdvaka, and Chailaka, as speci- 
fic ones, are still every-day names of every-day people, priests, if it 
must be so, but as I conceive, ascetics or monks merely. In the 
thick night of ignorance and superstition which still envelopes 
Tibet, the people fancy they yet behold Arhatas in the persons of 
their divine Lamas. No such imagination however possesses the 
heads of the followers of Buddha in Nepaul, Ceylon, or extra 
Gangetic India ; though in the last mentioned country the name 
Arhata is popularly applied to the modern order of the clergy, an order 
growing there, as in Nepaul, (if my opinions be sound) out of that 
deviation from the primitive genius and type of the system which 
resulted necessarily from its popular diffusion as the rule of life and 
practice of whole nations. 

In conclusion I would observe, that, in my apprehension, 
Remusat's interpretation of the various senses of the Triadic doc- 
trine is neither very complete, nor very accurate. In a religious 
point of view, by the first member is understood the founder of 

is Manikalaya, or the place of the precious relic. The mound is a tomb temple. 
The * tumuli eorum Christi altaria' of the poet, is more true of Buddhism than 
even of the most perverted model of Christianity ; the cause being probably the 
same, originally, in reference to both creeds, viz, persecution and martyrdom, 
with consequent divine honours to the sufferers. The Bauddhas, however, have 
in this matter gone a step further in the descending scale of representative 
adoration than the Catholics; for they worship the mere image of that structure 
which is devoted to the inshrining of the relics of their saints ; they worship 
the architectural model or form of the Chaitya. 

The Chaitya of Sambhunath in Nepaul is affirmed to cover Jyoti rupya 
Swayambhu, self-existent, in the form of flame : nor was there ever any thing ex- 
clusive of theism in the connection of tomb and temple : for Chaityas were always 
dedicated to the Celestial Buddhas, not only in Nepaul, but in the plains of India, 
as the Chaityas of Sanchi, of Gya, and of Bag, demonstrate. The Dhyani 
Buddhas appear in the oldest monuments of the continent and islands. 



104 



the creed, and all who, following his steps, have reached the full 
rank of a Maha Ydnika Buddha ; by the second, the law or scrip- 
tures of the sect ; and by the third, the congregation of the faith- 
ful, or primitive church, or body of original disciples, or even, any 
and every assemblage of true, i. e. of conventual ascetical observers 
of the law, past or present. 

In a philosophical light, the precedence of Buddha or of 
Dharma indicates the theistic or atheistic school. With the for- 
mer, Buddha is intellectual essence,* the efficient cause of all, and 
underived. Dharma is material essence, j the plastic cause, and 
underived, a co-equal by unity with Buddha ; or else the plastic 
cause, as before, but dependent and derived from Buddha. 
Sanyha is derived from, and compounded of, Buddha and Dharma, 
is their collective energy in the state of action ; the immediate 
operative cause of creation, its type or its agent.J With the latter 
or atheistic schools, Dharma is Diva natura, matter as the sole 
entity, invested with intrinsic activity and intelligence, the effici- 
ent and material cause of all. 

Buddha is derivative from Dharma, is the active and intelligent 
force of nature, first put off from it and then operating upon it. 
Sangha is the residt of that operation ; is embryotic creation, the 
type and sum of all specific forms, which are spontaneously evolv- 
ed from the union of Buddha with Dharma.\ The above are 
the principal distinctions, others there are which I cannot venture 
here to dwell on. 

With regard to Remusat's remark, " on voit que les trois noms 
sont places sur le meme niveau, comme les trois representations des 

* Bodhanatmaka iti Buddha, ' the intellectual essence is Buddha.'' 
f Dharanatmaka iti Dharma, ' the holding-, sustaining or containing- sub- 
stance is Dharma.'' Again, Prakriteswari iti Prajna, * the material goddess is 
Prajna,' one of the names of Dharma. The word Prajna is compounded of the 
intensive prefix pra, and jnyana wisdom, or jna, to know. It imports the 
supreme wisdom of nature. Dharma is the universal substratum, is that which 
supports all form and quality in the versatile world. 

\ Samudayatmika iti Sa?,gha, 4 the multitudinous essence is Sangha :* mul- 
titude is the diagnosis of the versatile universe, as unity is of that of abstrac- 
tion. 

§ Prajnaupay tmakang Jaggata. 



105 



meme etres dans les planches de M. Hodgson avec cette difference 
que suf celles-ci, Sanga est a droite, et Dharma a gauche" I may 
just add, that the placing of Sangha to the right is a merely ritual 
technicality, conformable to thepujd of the Dakshindchdrs,* and that 
all the philosophers and religionists are agreed in postponing 
Sangha to Dharma. 

I possess very many drawings exhibiting the arrangement men- 
tioned by Remusat ; but all subservient to mere ritual purposes 
and consequently worthy of no serious attention. The Matantara, 
or variorum text of the Pujarls of the present day, displays an in- 
finite variety of formula, f illustrated by corresponding sculptural 
and pictorial devices, embodied in those works, and transferred 
from them to the walls and interior of temples existing all over 
the valley of Nepaul. 



QUOTATIONS. 

The Swdbhdviha Doctrine. 

1. All things are governed or perfected by Swabhdva;\ I too 
am governed by Swabhava. {Ashta Sahas?'ika.) 

2. It is proper for the worshipper at the time of worship to reflect 
thus: I am Nirlipt^ and the object of my worship is Nirlipt ; 
I am that God (Iswara) to whom I address myself. Thus meditat- 
ing, the worshipper should make puja to all the celestials : for exam- 
ple, to Vajra Sativa Buddha, let him pay his adorations, first, by 
recollecting that all things with their Vija Mantras came from 
Sivabhdva in this order: — from the vija\\ of the letter Y, air; from 
that of the letter R, fire ; from that of the letter V, or B, water, 

* The theistic sects so call themselves, styling their opposites, the Swabhavi- 
kas and Prajnikas, Vamachars. The Pauranikas, too, often designate the Tan- 
trikas by the latter name, which is equivalent to left-handed. 

f See the classified enumeration of the principal objects of Bauddha worship 
appended to this paper. Appendix B. 

| Swa, own, and bhava, nature. Idiosyncrasis. 

§ Intact and intangible, independent, 

|| Root, radix, seed. 

N 



106 



and from that of the letter L, earth ; and from that of the letter 
S, Mount Sumeru. On the summit of Sumer is a lotos of precious 
stones, and above the lotos, a moon crescent, upon which sits, 
supremely exalted, Vajra Satwa. And as all (other) things 
proceed from Swabhdva, so also does Vajra Satwa, thence called 
the self-existent.* (Pujd kand.) 

3. All things and beings (in the versatile universe) which are 
alike perishable, false as a dream, treacherous as a mirage, pro- 
ceed, according to some, from Swabhdva (nature) and according 
to others, from God, {Iswara ;) and hence it is said, that Swabhdva 
and Iswara are essentially one, differing only in name.f {Ashta 
Sahasrika.) 

4, At the general dissolution of all things, the four elements 
shall be absorbed in Sunydkdr- Akdsh (sheer space) in this order ; 
Earth in water, water in fire, fire in air, and air in Akdsh, and 
Akdsh in Sunydta, and Sunydta in Tathatd,\ and Tathata in 
Buddha, (which Mahd Sunydta^) and Buddha in Bhdvana, and 
Bhdvana in Sivabhdva. And when existence is again involved, 
each shall in the inverse order, progress from the other. From 
that Swabhdva, which communicates its property of infinity to 
Akdsh proceeded into being, in Akdsh the letter A. and the 
rest of the letters; and from the letters, Adi Buddha \\ and the 
other Buddhas ; and from the Buddhas, the Bodhi- Satwas, and 
from them the five elements, with their Vija Mantras. Such is 
the Sivabhdvika Sansdr; which Sansdr (universe) constantly re*» 

* This may teach us caution in the interpretation of terms. I understand the 
dogma to announce, that infinite intelligence is as much a part of the system of 
nature as finite. The mystic allusion to the alphabet imports nothing more than 
its being the indispensable instrument and means of knowledge or wisdom^ 
which the Buddhists believe man has the capacity of perfecting up to the stand- 
ard of infinity, 

f See note on No, 3, on the Yatnika system. 

\ Tathata, says the comment, is Satya Juyan ; and Bhavana is Bhava or" 
Satta, i. e. sheer entity. 

§ See note on quotation 1 of the section A'di- Buddha. 

|| Here again I might repeat the caution and remark at quotation 2. I have 
elsewhere observed, that Sivabhavika texts, differently interpreted, form the ba- 
sis 



107 



volves between Pravritti and Nirvritti, like a potter's wheel. (Di- 
vya Avadd?i.) 

5. Mahd Sunydta is, according to some, Swabhava, and ac- 
cording to others, Iswara ; it is like the ethereal expance, and self- 
sustained. In that Mdhd Sunydta, the letter A, which the Vija 
Mantra of Upaya * and the chief of all the Vija Mantras of the 
letters, became manifest. (JRucha JBhdgavati.) 

6. Some say creation is from God : if so, what is the use of 
Yatna or of Karma ?f That which made all things, will preserve 
and destroy them ; that which governs Nirvritti, governs Pravritti 
also. {Buddha Charitrakdvya.) 

7. The sandal tree freely communicates its fragrance to him 
who tears off its bark. Who is not delighted with its odour ? It is 
from Swabhdva. (Kalpalata.) 

8. The elephant's cub, if he find not leafless and thorny creep- 
ers in the green wood, becomes thin. The crow avoids the ripe 
mango. J The cause is still Swabhdva. (Do.) 

9. Who sharpened the thorn ? Who gave their varied forms, 
colours, and habits to the deer kind, and to the birds ? Sioabhdva! 
It is not according to the will (ichchhd) of any ; and if there be 
no desire or intention, there can be no intender or designer. § 
{Buddha Charitra.) 

sis of the Aiswarika doctrine, as well as that the Buddhas of the Swabhavikas, 
who derive their capacity of identifying themselves with the first cause from na- 
ture, which is that cause, are as largely gifted as the Buddhas of the Aiswarikas, 
deriving the same capacity from A'di-Buddha, who is that cause. See remarks 
on Remusat apud Journal of Bengal Asiatic Society, Nos, 32, 33,. and 34. 

* Upaya, the expedient, the energy of nature in a state of activity. See the 
note on No. 6, of the section A'di- Sangha. 

f See the note on quotation 9 of this head. Yatna and Karma may here he 
rendered hy intellect and morality. 

\ These are assumed facts in Natural History ; but not correct, 

§ Here is plainly announced that denial of self-consciousness or personality in 
the causa causarum which constitutes the great defect of the Swabhavika philo- 
sophy : and if this denial amount to atheism, the Swabhavikas are, for the most 
part, atheists ; their denial also of a moral ruler of the universe being a necessary 
sequel to it. Excepting, however, a small and mean sect of them, they all affirm 
eternal necessary, entity; nor do any of them reject the soul's existence beyond 



108 



10. The conch, which is worthy of all praise, bright as the 
moon, rated first among excellent things, and which is benevolent 
to all sentient beings, though it be itself insensate, yields its me- 
lodious music, purely by reason of Swabhdva. (Kalpalata.) 

1 1 . That hands and feet, and belly and back, and head, in fine, 
organs of whatever kind, are found in the womb, the wise have 
attributed to Swabhdva; and the union of the soul or life (AHma) 
with body, is also Siodbhdva. (Buddha Charitra Kdvya.) 

12. From Swabhdva (nature) all things proceeded ; by Swabhd- 
va all things are preserved. All their differences of structure and of 
habits are from Swabhdva : and from Swabhdva comes their des- 
truction. All things are regulated (suddha) by Swabhdva. Swa- 
bhdva is known as the Supreme. (Pujd hand, — from the Rucha 
Bhdgavati, where the substance is found in sundry passages.) 

13. Akdsh is Swdbhdvika, because it is established, governed, 
perfected (suddha) by its own force or nature. All things are ab- 
sorbed in it : it is uncreated or eternal ; it is revealed by its own 
force ; it is the essence (A'tma*) of creation, preservation, and 
destruction ; it is the essence of the five elements ; it is infinite ; 
it is intellectual essence (Bodhandtmika). The five colours are 
proper to it ; and the five Buddhas ; and the letters. It is Sun-- 
ydta ; self-supported ; omnipresent : to its essence belong both 
Pravritti and Nirvritti. This Akdsh, which is omnipresent, and 
essentially intellectual, "f because infinite things are absorbed into 

the grave, or the doctrine of atonement. Still Newton's is, upon the whole, the 
right judgment, ' Deus sine providentia et dominio nihil est nisi fatum et natural 
The Swabhaviha attempts to deify nature are hut a sad confusion of cause and ef- 
fect. But, in a serious religious point of view, I fail to perceive any superiority pos- 
sessed hy the immaterial pantheism of Brahmans over the material pantheism of 
the Buddhists. Metempsychosis and absorption are common to both, 

* One comment on the comment says, AHma here means sthan or alaya, i. e. 
the ubi of creation, &ci 

f Akash is here understood as synonymous with Sunyata, that is, as the ele- 
mental state of all things, the universal ubi and modus of primal entity, in a 
state of abstraction from all specific forms : and it is worthy of note, that amidst 
these primal principles, intelligence has admission. It is therefore affirmed to be 
a necessary end, or eternal portion of the system of nature, though separated from 

self- 



109 



it, is declared to be infinite. From the infinite nature of this 
Akdsh were produced all moving things, each in its own time, 
in due procession from another, and with its proper difference 
of form and habits. From the secret nature of Akdsh proceeded 
likewise, together with the Vij Mantra of each one, air with 
its own mobility ; and from air, fire with its own heat ; and from 
fire, water with its intrinsical coldness ; and from water, earth 
with its own proper solidity or heaviness ; and from earth, Mount 
Sumeru with its own substance of gold, or with its own sustain- 
ing power ( Dhdtwdtmika ) ; and from Sumeru, all the various 
kinds of trees and vegetables ; and from them, all the variety of 
colours, shapes, flavours, and fragrances, in leaves, flowers, and 
fruits. Each derived its essential property (as of fire to burn) 
from itself ; and the order of its procession into existence from the 
one precedent, by virtue of Swabhdva, operating in time. The 
several manners of going peculiar to the six classes of animate 
beings (four-legged, two-legged, &c.) and their several modes of 
birth, (oviparous, &c.*) all proceeded from Swabhdva. From the 
Swabhdva of each mansion or habitat {Bhavand) resulted the 
differences existing between the several abodes of all the six or- 
ders of animate beings. The existence of the foetus in the womb 
proceeds from the Swabhdva of the union of male and female ; 

self-consciousness or personality. In the same manner, Prajna, the sum of all 
things, Diva natura, is declared to be eternal, and essentially intelligent, though 
a material principle. 

* By etcsetera, understand always (more Brahmanorum). That Buddhism 
forms an integral part of the Indian philosophy is sufficiently proved by the 
multitude of terms and classifications common to it, and to Brahmanism. 
The theogony and cosmogony of the latter are expressly those of the former, 
with sundry additions only, which serve to prove the posteriority of date, and 
schismatical secession, of the Buddhists. M, Cousin, in his course of philoso- 
phy, notices the absence of a sceptical school amongst the Indian philosophers. 
Buddhism, when fully explained, will supply the desideratum; and I would 
here notice the precipitation with which we are now constantly drawing gene- 
ral conclusions relative to the scope of Indian speculation, from a knowledge of 
the Brahmanical writings only— writings equalled or surpassed in number 
and value by those of the Buddhists, Jains, and other dissenters from the exist- 
ing orthodox system of Vyasa and Sankara Acharya. 



no 



and its gradual growth and assumption of flesh, bones, skin, and 
organs, is caused by the joint energy of the Swabhdva of the foetus, 
and that of time, or the Swabhdva of the foetus, operating in time. 
The procession of all things from birth, through gradual increase, 
to maturity, and thence, through gradual decay, to death, results 
spontaneously from the nature of each being ; as do the differen- 
ces appropriated to the faculties of the senses and of the mind, 
and to those external things and internal, which are perceived by 
them. Speech and sustenance from dressed food in mankind, and 
the want of speech and the eating of grass in quadrupeds, together 
with the birth of birds from eggs, of insects from sweat, and of the 
Gods (Devatds) without parentage of any sort : all these marvels 
proceed from Swabhdva. (Comment on the Pujd hand, quotation 
12.) 

The Aiswaeika System. 

1. The self-existent God is the sum of perfections, infinite* 
eternal, without members or passions; one with all tilings (in 
Pravritti), and separate from all things (in Nirvritti), infiniformed 
and formless, the essence oi Pravritti and of Nirvritti* (Swayam-* 
bhu Pur ana.) 

2. He whose image is Sunydta, who is like a cypher or point, 
infinite, unsustained (in Nirvritti), and sustained (in Pravritti), 
whose essence is Nirvritti, of whom all things are forms (in Pra- 
vritti,) and who is yet formless (in Nirvritti), who is the Iswara, 
the first intellectual essence, the Adi-Buddha, was revealed by his 
own will. This self- existent is he whom all know as the only true 
Being ; and, though the state of Nirvritti be his proper and en- 
during state, yet, for the sake of Pravritti, (creation), having be- 
come Pancha-jnydndtmika, he produced the five Buddhas thus ; 
from Suvi-suddha-dharma-dhdtiija jnydn, Vairo chana, the su- 
premely wise, from whom proceed the element of earth, the sight, 

* Pravritti, the versatile universe ; Nirvritti, its opposite, this world and the 
next. Pravritti is compounded of Pra, an intensitive. and vritti, action, 
occupation, from the root va, to blow as the wind ; Nirvritti, of Nir, a priva- 
tive, and vritti, as before. 



Ill 



and colours ; and from Adarshana-jnydn, Akshobhya, from whom 
proceed the element of water, the faculty of hearing, and all sounds; 
and from Pratyavekshana-jnydn, Ratna Sambhaya, from whom 
proceed the element of fire, the sense of smell, and all odours ; 
and from Samta-jnydn, Amitdbha, from whom proceed the ele- 
ment of air, the sense of taste, and all savours ; and from Kritya- 
nushtha-jnydn, Amogha Siddha, from whom proceed the element 
of ether, the faculty of touch, and all the sensible properties of 
outward things dependent thereon. All these five Buddhas are 
Pravritti kdmang, or the authors of creation. They possess the 
five jnyans, the five colours, the five mudras, and the five vehicles.* 
The five elements, five senses, and five respective objects of sense, 
are forms of them.f And these five Buddhas each produced 
a Bodhi- Satwa, (for the detail, see Asiatic Society's Transactions, 
vol. xvi.) The five Bodhi- Satwas are Srishtikdmang, or the 
immediate agents of creation ; and each, in his turn, having be- 
come Sarvaguna, (invested with all qualities, or invested with the 
three gunas,) produced all things by his fiat. (Comment on 
quot. 1.) 

3. All things existent (in the versatile universe) proceed from 
some cause (hetu) : that cause is the Tathdgata\ {Adi-Buddhd) ; 
and that which is the cause of (versatile) existence is the cause 

* See Appendix A. 

f The five Dhyani Buddhas are said to be Pancha Bhuta, Pancha Indriyd, 
and Pancha Ayatan akar. Hence my conjecture that they are mere personi- 
fications, according to a theistic theory of the phsenomena of the sensible 
world. The 6th Dhyani Buddha is, in like manner, the icon and source of the 
6th sense, and its object, or Manasa and Dharma, i. e. the sentient principle, 
soul of the senses, or internal sense, and moral and intellectual phaenomena. 
In the above passage, however, the association of the five elements is not the 
most accredited one, which (for example) associates hearing and sounds to 
Akash. 

i This important word is compounded of Tatha> thus, and gata, gone or got, 
and is explained in three ways. 1st, thus got or obtained, viz. the rank of a 
Tathagata, obtained by observance of the rules prescribed for the acquisition of 
perfect wisdom, of which acquisition, total cessation of births is the efficient 
consequence. 2nd, thus gone, viz. the mundane existence of the Tatliagata, gone 

so 



112 



of the cessation or extinction of all (such) existence: so said 
Sakya Sinha. (JBhadra Kalpavadan.) 

4c Body is compounded of the five elements : soul, which 
animates it, is an emanation from the self- existent. (Swayambhu 
pur ana-.) 

5. Those who have suffered many torments in this life, and 
have even burned in hell, shall, if they piously serve the Tri Ratna 
(or Triad), escape from the evils of both. {Avaddn Kalpalatd.) 

6. Subandu (a Raja of Benares) was childless. He devoted 

so as never to return, mortal births having been closed, and Nirvritii obtained, by 
perfection of knowledge. 3rd, gone in the same manner as it or they (birth or 
births) came; the sceptical and necessitarian conclusion of those who held that 
both metempsychosis and absorption are beyond our intellect (as objects of know- 
ledge), and independent of our efforts (as objects of desire and aversion — as con- 
tingencies to which we are liable) ; and that that which causes births, causes 
likewise (proprio vigore) the ultimate cessation of them. The epithet Tatha- 
gata, therefore, can only be applied to A'di- Buddha, the self- existent, who is 
never incarnated,. in a figurative, or at least a restricted, sense; — cessation of 
human births being the essence of what it implies. I have seen the question 
and answer, 'what is the Tathagata? It does not come again.' proposed and 
solved by the Raksha Bhaguvati, in the very spirit and almost in the words of 
the Vedas. One of a thousand proofs that have occurred to me how thoroughly 
Indian Buddhism is. Tathagata, thus gone, or gone as he came, as applied 
to A'di- Buddha, alludes to his voluntary secession from the versatile world into 
that of abstraction, of which no mortal can predicate, more than that his depar- 
ture and his advent are alike simple results of his volition. Some authors sub- 
stitute this interpretation, exclusively applicable to A'di- Buddha, for the third 
sceptical and general interpretation above given. The synonyme Sugata, or 
* well gone, for ever quit of versatile existence,' yet further illustrates the ordina- 
ry meaning of the word Tathagata, as Well as the ultimate scope and genius of 
the Buddhist religion, of which the end is, freedom from metempsychosis ; and 
the means, perfect and absolute enlightenment of the understanding, and conse- 
quent discovery of the grand secret of nature. What that grand secret, that ul- 
timate truth, that single reality, is, whether all is God, or God is all, seems to be 
the sole propositum of the oriental philosophic religionists, who have all alike 
sought to discover it by taking the high priori road. That God is all, appears to 
be the prevalent and dogmatic determination of the Brahmanists ; that all is God, 
the preferential but sceptical solution of the Buddhists ; and, in a large view, I 
believe it would be difficult to indicate any further essential difference between 
their theoretic systems, both, as I conceive, the unquestionable growth of the In- 
dian soil, and both founded upon transcendental speculations, conducted in the 
very same style and manner. 



113 



himself to the worship of Iswara {Adi Buddha ;) and by the 
grace of Iswara a sugar-cane was produced from his semen, from 
which a son was born to him. The race* remains to this day, 
and is called Ikshava Aku. (Avadan Kalpalatd.) 

7. When all was void, perfect voidj (Sunya, Malia Sunya) 
the triliteral syllable Aum became manifest, the first created, the 
ineffably splendid, surrounded by all the radical letters ( Vijd Ak- 
shara), as by a necklace. In that Aum, he who is present in all 
things, formless and passionless, and who possesses the Tri Rat- 
na, was produced by his own will. To him I make adoration. 
( Swayambhu pur and). 

The Kdrmika System, 

1. From the union of Up ay a and Prajnd,\ arose Manas, the 
lord of the senses, and from Marias proceeded the ten virtues and 
the ten vices ; so said Sdkya Sinha. {Divya Avadan?) 

2. The being of all things is derived from belief, reliance, (pra- 
tyaya,) in this order : from false knowledge, delusive impression ; 
from delusive impression, general notions ; from them, particulars ; 
from them, the six seats (or outward objects) of the senses ; from 
them, contact ; from it, definite sensation and perception ; from it, 
thirst or desire ; from it, embryotic (physical) existence ; from it, 
birth or actual physical existence ; from it, all the distinctions of 
genus and species among animate things ; from them, decay and 
death, after the manner and period peculiar to each. Such is the 
procession of all things into existence from Avidya, or delusion : 
and in the inverse order to that of their procession, they retrograde 
into non-existence. And the egress and regress are both Karmas, 

* That of Sdkya Sinha, and said by the Buddhists to belong to the solar 
line of Indian Princes. Nor is it any proof of the contrary, that the Pauranika 
genealogies exhibit no trace of this race. Those genealogies have been altered 
again and again, to suit current prejudices or partialities. The Brahmans who 
Obliterated throughout India every vestige of the splendid and extensive literature 
of the Buddhas, would have little scruple in expunging from their own sacred 
books the royal lineage of the great founder of Buddhism. 

f See the note on quotation 6 of the section A y di Sangha. Also the note on 
quotation 1 of the Yatnika system. 

o 



114 



wherefore this system is called Karmika. (Sakya to his disciples 
in the Bach a Ehagavati.) 

3. The existence of the versatile world is derived sheerly from 
fancy or imagination, or belief in irs reality ; and this false notion 
is the first Karma of Manas, or first act of the sentient principle, 
as yet imindividnalized ? and imemhodied. This belief of the 
imembodied sentient principle in the reality of a mirage is attended 
with a longing after it, and a conviction of its worth and reality ; 
which longing is called Sanscdr, and constitutes the second Karma 
of Maiias. "When Sanscdr becomes excessive, incipient indivi- 
dual, consciousness arises (third Karma ) ; then proceeds an organis- 
ed and definite, but archetypal body, the seat of that conscious- 
ness, (fourth Karma) ; from the last results the existence of [the 
six sensible and cognizable properties of] natural* objects, moral 
and physical, (fifth Karma.) "When the archetypally embodied 
sentient principle comes to exercise itself on these properties of 
things, then definite perception or knowledge is produced, as that 
this is white, the other, black ; this is right, the other wrong, 
(sixth Karma.) Thence arises desire or worldly affection in the ar- 
chetypal body, (seventh Karma.) which leads to corporeal concep- 
tion, (eighth,) and that to physical birth, (ninth.) From birth re- 
sult the varieties of genus and species distmgmshing animated 

* So I render, after much miiuiry, the Shad Ayatan,oT six seats of the senses 
external and internal ; and which are in detail as follows : Eupa, Sarda, Ganda y 
Rasa, Sparsa, Dharma. There is an obvious difficulty as to Sparsa, and some 
also as to Dharma. The whole category of the Ayatans expresses outward things: 
and after much investigation, I gather, that under Rupa is comprised not only 
colour, but form too, so far as its discrimination (or, in Karmika terms, its exist- 
ence) depends on sight ; and that all other zz/ispecified properties of body are re- 
ferred to Sparsa, which therefore incl-ides not only temperature, roughness, and 
smoothness, and hardness, and its opposite., but also gravity, and even extended 
ligure, though not extension in the abstract. 

Here we have not merely the secondary or sensible properties of matter, but also 
the primary ones ; and, as the existence of the Ayatans or outward objects perceived, 
is said to be derived from the Indriyas, (or from Manas, which is their collective 
energy. ) in other words, to be derived from the sheer exercise of the percipient pow- 
ers the Karmika system amounts to idealism. ]N"or is there any difficulty thence aris- 
ing in reference to the Karmika doctrine, which clearly affirms that theory by its de- 

rivation 



115 

nature, (tenth Karma,) and thence come decay and death in the 
time and manner peculiar to each, (eleventh and final Karma.) 
Such is the evolution of all things in Pravritti ; opposed to which 
is Nirvritti, and the recurrence of Nirvritti is the sheer conse- 
quence of the abandonment of all absurd ideas respecting the 
reality and stability of Pravritti, or, which is the same thing, the 
abandonment of Avidya: for, when Avidya is relinquished or 
overcome, Sanscdra and all the rest of the Karmas or acts of the 
sentient principle, vanish with it ; and also, of course, all mun- 
dane things and existences, which are thence only derived. Now, 
therefore, we see that Pravritti or the versatile world is the con- 
sequence of affection for a shadow, in the belief that it is a sub- 
stance ; and Nirvritti is the consequence of an abandonment of all 
such affection and belief. And Pravritti and Nirvritti, which 
divide the universe, are Karmas; wherefore the system is called 
Kdrmika. (Comment on Quotation 2.) 

4. Since the world is produced by the Karma of Manas, or 

rivation of all things from Pratyaya (belief), or from Avidya (ignorance). But the 
Indriyas and Ay at ans, with their necessary connexion, (and, possibly, also, the mak- 
ing Avidya the source of all things,) belong likewise to one section at least of the 
Swabhavika school ; and, in regard to it, it will require a nice hand to exhibit this 
Berkleyan notion existing co-ordinately with the leading tenet of the Swabhavikas. 
In the way of explanation I may observe, first, that the denial of material entity 
involved in the Iudriya and Ayalan theory (as in that of Avidya) respects solely 
the versatile world of Pravritti, or of specific forms merely, and does not touch 
the Nirvrittika state of formative powers and of primal substances, to which lat- 
ter, in that condition, the qualities of gravity, and even of extended figure, in 
any sense cognizable by human faculties, are denied, at the same time, that the 
real and even eternal existence of those substances, in that state, is affirmed. 

Second, though Dharma, the sixth Ayatan, be rendered by virtue, the appropri- 
ated object of the internal sense, it must be remembered, that most of the 
Swabhavikas, whilst they deny a moral ruler of the universe, affirm the existence 
of morality as a part of the system of nature. Others again (the minority) of the 
Swabhavikas reject the sixth Indriya, and sixth Ayatan, and, with them, the 
sixth Dhyani Buddha, or Vajra Satwa, who, by the way. is the Magnus Apollo 
of the Tantrikas, a sect the mystic and obscene character of whose ritual is 
redeemed by its unusually explicit enunciation and acknowledgment of a " God 
above all." 

The published explanations of the procession of all things from Avidya appear 
to me irreconcilably to conflict with the ideal basis of the theory. 

O 2 



116 



sheer act of the sentient principle, it is therefore called Kdrmika. 
The manner of procession of all things into existence is thus. 
From the union of Upaya and of Prdjna, Manas proceeded ; and 
from Manas, Avidya ; and from Avidya, Sanscdr; and from Sanscdr, 
Vijnydna; and from Vijnydna, Ndmarupa; and from Ndmarupa, 
the ShadAyatan ;* and from them, Vedana; and from it, Trishna; 
and from it, Upaddn; and from it, Bhava; and from it, Jati ; and 
from it, Jaramarana. And from Jdtirupy a Manas, (i. e. the sentient 
principle in organized animate beings) emanated the ten virtues 
and ten vices. And as men's words and deeds partake of the 
character of the one or the other, is their lot disposed, felicity be- 
ing inseparably bound to virtue, and misery to vice, by the very 
nature of Karma. 

Such is the procession of all things into existence from Manas 
through Avidya; and when Avidya ceases, all the rest cease 
with it. Now, since Avidya is a false knowledge, and is also the 
medium of all mundane existence, when it ceases, the world 
vanishes ; and Manas, relieved from its illusion, is absorbed into 
Upaya Prajna.\ Pravritti is the state of things under the influ- 
ence of Avidya ; and the cessation of Avidya is Nirvritti : Pravritti 
and Nirvritti are both Karmas. (Another comment on Quot. 2.) 

5. The actions of a man's former births constitute his des- 
tiny .f {Puny a paroda.) 

6. He who has received from nature such wisdom as to read 

* i. e. colour, odour, savour, sound, the properties dependent on touch, 
(which are hardness, and its opposite, temperature, roughness and smoothness, 
and also I believe gravity and extended figure,) and lastly, right and wrong. 
They are called the seats of the six senses, the five ordinary, and one internal. 
In this quotation I have purposely retained the original terms. Their import 
may be gathered from the immediately preceding quotations and note, which 
the curious may compare with Mr. Colebrooke's explication. See his paper 
on the Bauddha philosophy, apud Trans. Roy. As. Socy. quarto vol. 

f The Vamucharas say, into Prujna Upaya : see note on quotation 6 of the 
section A 1 dl Sangha. 

X Daivya, identified with A'di Buddha by the theistic, and with Fate, by the 
atheistic doctors. The precise equivalent of the maxim itself is our 'conduct 
is fate.' 



117 



his own heart, and those of all others, even he cannot erase the 
characters which Vidhdtri* has written on his forehead. {Avadan 
Kalpalatd.) 

7. As the faithful servant walks behind his master when he 
walks, and stands behind him when he stands, so every animate 
being is bound in the chains of Karma. (Ditto.) 

8. Karma accompanies every one, every where, every instant, 
through the forest, and across the ocean, and over the highest 
mountains, into the heaven of Indra, and into Pdtdla (hell) ; and 
no power can stay it. (Ditto.) 

9. Kanajl, son of king Asoka, because in one birth he pluck- 
ed out the golden eyes from a Chaitya,^ had his own eyes plucked 
out in the next ; and because he in that birth bestowed a pair of 
golden eyes on a Chaitya, received himself in the succeeding birth 
eyes of unequalled splendour. {Avadan Kalpalatd.) 

10. Sakya Sinha's son, named Ra'htjla Bhadra, remained 
six years in the womb of his mother Yasodra. The pain and 
anxiety of mother and son were caused by the Karmas of their 
former births. (Ditto.) 

11. Although I had required (Sdkya speaks of himself) a 
perfect body, still, even in this body, defect again appeared ; because 
I had yet to expiate a small residue of the sins of former births. 
{Lallita Vistara.) 

* Bramha, but here understood to be Karma. 

f Chaitya is the Dame of the tomb temples or relic-consecrated churches of 
the Buddhists. The essential part of the structure is the lower hemisphere : 
above this a square basement or Toran always supports the acutely conical or 
pyramidal superstructure, and on all four sides of that basement two eyes are 
placed. Wherever the lower hemisphere is found, is indisputable evidence of 
Buddhism, e. g. ' the topes' of Munikalaya and of Peshawar. In niches at 
the base of the hemisphere are frequently enshrined four of the five Dhyani 
Buddhas, one opposite to each cardinal point. Akshobhya occupies the eastern 
niche ; Ratna sa/nbhava, the southern ; Amitabha, the western, and Amoghasid- 
dha, the northern. Vairochana, the first Dhyani Buddha, is supposed to occupy 
the centre, invisibly. Sometimes, however, he appears visibly, being placed at 
the right-hand of Akshobhya. 



118 



The Ydtnika System. 

1. Iswara (Adi Buddha) produced Yatna from Prajna ;* and 
the cause of Pravritti and Nirvritti is Yatna ; and all the difficul- 
ties that occur in the affairs of this world and the next are vanquish- 
ed by Yatna (or conscious intellectual effort.) (Divya Avadan.) 

2. That above mentioned Iswara, by means of Yatna, produc- 
ed the five Jnydns, whence sprang the five Buddhas. The five 
Buddhas, in like manner, (i. e. by means of Yatna,) produced the 
five Bodhi satwas : and they again, by the same means, created 
the greater Devatds from their bodies, and the lesser ones, from 
the hairs of their bodies. In like manner, Brahma created the 
three Lokas\ and all moving and motionless things. Among 
mortals, all difficulties are overcome by Yatna ; for example, those 
of the sea by ships, those of illness by medicine, those of travelling 
by equipages — and want of paper, by prepared skin and bark of 
trees. And as all our worldly obstacles are removed by Yatna, 
so the wisdom which wins Nirvritti for us is the result of Yatna ; 
because by it alone are charity and the rest of the virtues acquired. 
Since therefore all the goods of this world and of the next depend 
upon Yatna, Sakya Sink a wandered from region to region to 
teach mankind that cardinal truth. (Comment on Quotation 1.) 

3. That Adi Buddha, whom the Swabhdvikas call Swabhdva, 
and the Aiswdrikas, Iswara,\ produced a Bodhi satwa, who, 
having migrated through the three worlds, and through all six 
forms of animate existence, and experienced the goods and evils 
of every state of being, appeared, at last, as Sdkya Sinha, to teach 

* This, as I conceive, is an attempt to remedy that cardinal defect of the old- 
er Swabhavika school, viz. the denial of personality, and conscious power and 
wisdom in the first cause. To the same effect is the Karmika assertion, that 
Manas proceeded from the union of Upaya and Prajna, Karma I understand 
to mean conscious moral effort, and Yatna, conscious intellectual effort. Their 
admission in respect to human nature implies its free icill, as their assignation to 
the divine nature implies its personality. 

f The celestial, terrene, and infernal divisions of the versatile universe. 

\ Passages of this entirely pyrrhonic tenure incessantly recur in the oldest 
and highest authorities of the Buddhists ; hence the assertion of the preface that 
Sugatism is rather sceptical than atheistically dogmatic. 



119 



mankind the real sources of happiness and misery, and the doc- 
trines of the four schools of philosophy ;* and then, by means of 
Yatna, having obtained Bodhi-jnydn, and having fulfilled all the 
Pdramitds (transcendental virtues,) he at length became Nirvdn. 
{Divya Avadd?i*) 

4. Sakya Sinha, having emanated from that self- existent, 
which, according to some, is Swabhdva, and according to others, 
is Iswara, was produced for the purpose of preserving all crea- 
tures. He first adopted the Pravritti Mdrga (secular character,) 
and in several births exercised Yatna and Karma, reaping the 
fruits of his actions in all the three worlds. He then exercised 
Yatna and Karma in the Nirvritti Mdrga (ascetical or monastic 
character) essaying a release from this mortal coil, fulfilling the ten 
virtues from the Satya to the Dwdpara Yuga, till at last, in the 
Kali Yuga, having completely freed himself from sublunary cares, 
having become a Bliiksluika,\ and gone to Buddh Gyd, he reject- 
ed and reviled the Brahmanical penance, did all sorts of true pe- 
nance for six years under the tree of knowledge on banks of the 
Niranjana river ; conquered the Namuchimara,\ obtained Bodhi- 
jnydn, became the most perfect of the Buddhas, seated himself 
among the Bodhi satwas, (Ana?ida * Bhikshu' and the rest,) grant- 
ed wisdom to the simple, fulfilled the desires of millions of peo- 
ple, and gave 3Ioksha^ to them and to himself. {Lallita Vistdra.) 

5. A hare fell in with a tiger : by means of Yatna the hare 
threw the tiger into a well. Hence it appears that Yatna prevails 
over physical force, knowledge, and the Mantras. {Bhadra 
Kalpavadan.) 

* Expressly called in the comment the Swabhavika, Aiswarika, Yatnika, 
and Karmika systems. I find no authority in Saugata books for the Brahmi- 
nical nomenclature of the Bauddha philosophical schools. 

f Mendicant: one of the four regular orders of the Bauddhas. See the 
Preface. 

\ A Daitya of Kanchanapara, personification of the principle of evil. 
JBodhijnyan is the wisdom of Buddhism. Ananda was one of the first and ab- 
lest of Sakya's disciples. The first code of Buddhism is attributed to him. 

§ Emancipation, absorption. 



120 



6. Nara Siniia (Raja of Benares) was a monster of cruelty. 
Satta Swama Raja, by means of Yatna, compelled him to deliver 
up 100 Rdjkumdrs, whom Nara Sinha had destined for a sacrifice 
to the gods. (Bhadra Kalpavadan.) 

7. Sudhana Kumar a found a beautiful daughter of a horse- 
faced Raja named Drum a. By means of Yatna he carried her off, 
and kept her ; and was immortalized for the exploit. ( Swayambhu 
Pur ana.) 

Adi Buddha. 

1. Know that when, in the beginning, all was perfect void 
(Mafia sunyata,*) and the five elements were not, then Adi Bud- 
dha, the stainless, was revealed in the form of flame or light. 

2. He in whom are the three gunas, who is the Mahd Murti 
and the Visvarupa (form of all things,) became manifest : he is 
the self-existent great Buddha, the Adi ndth, the Maheswara* 

3. He is the cause of all existences in the three worlds ; the 
cause of their well being also. From his profound meditation 
(Dhydn,) the universe was produced by him. 

4. He is the self-existent, the Iswara, the sum of perfections, 
the infinite, void of members or passions : all things are types of 
him, and yet he was no type : he is the form of all things, and yet 
formless. 

* The doctrine of Sunyata is the darkest corner of the metaphysical laby- 
rinth. 18 kinds of Sunyata are enumerated in the Raksha Bhagavati. I un- 
derstand it to mean generally space, which some of our philosophers have held 
to be plenum, others a vacuum. In the transcendental sense of the Buddhists, 
it signifies not merely the universal ubi, but also the modus existendi of all 
things in the state of quiescence and abstraction from phoenomenal being. The 
Buddhists have eternised matter or nature in that state. The energy of 
nature ever is, but is not ever exerted ; and when not exerted, it is considered 
to be void of all those qualities which necessarily imply perishableness. Most 
of the Buddhists deem (upon different grounds) all phoenomeua to be as purely 
illusory as do the Vedantists. The phoenomena of the latter are sheer energies 
of God ; those of the former are sheer energies of Nature, deified and substitut- 
ed for God. See note on quot. six of this section A'di Sangha. The Aiswa- 
rikas put their A'di Buddha in place of the nature of the older Swabhavi- 
has. See Journal of As. Soc. No. 33, Art. I, 



121 



5. He is without parts, shapeless, self- sustained, void of pain 
and care, eternal and not eternal ;* him I salute. {Karanda Vyuha.) 

6. Adi Buddha is without beginning. He is perfect, pure 
within, the essence of the wisdom of thatness, or absolute truth. 
He knows all the past. His words are ever the same. 

7. He is without second. He is omnipresent. He is the Nai- 
ratmya lion to the Kutirtha deer.f {Nam sangti.) 

8. I make salutation to Adi Buddha, who is one and sole in 
the universe ; who gives every one Bodhi-jnydn ; whose name is 
Upaya ; who became manifest in the greatest Sunydta, as the let- 
ter A. Who is the Tathagata ; who is known only to those who have 
attained the wisdom of absolute truth. (Ditto.) 

9. As in the mirror we mortals see our forms reflected, so 
Adi Buddha is known (in Pravritti) by the 32 lakshanas and 80 
anuvinjanas. (Ditto.) 

10. As the rainbow, by means of its five colours, forewarns 
mortals of the coming weather, so does Adi Buddha admonish the 
world of its good and evil actions by means of his 'five essential 
colours. | (Ditto.) 

11. Adi Buddha delights in making happy every sentient be- 
ing ; he tenderly loves those who serve him. His majesty fills all 
with reverence and awe. He is the assuager of pain and grief. 
(Ditto.) 

* One in Nirvritti ; the other in Pravritti ; and so of all the preceding con- 
trasted epithets. Nirvritti is quiescence and abstraction ; Pravritti, action 
and concretion. All the schools admit these two modes, and thus solve the 
difficulty of different properties existing in cause and in effects. 

f Comment says, that Nairatmya is ' Sarva Dharmanam nirabhas lakshan- 
ang ; and that Tirtha means Moksha, and Katirtha, any perversion of the 
doctrine of Moksha, as to say it consists in absorption into Brahm .- and it 
explains the whole thus, 4 He thunders in the ears of all those who misinterpret 
Moksha j there is no true Moksha, but Sunyata.' Another comment gives the 
sense thus,' dividing the sentence into two parts, ' There is no atma (life or 
soul) without him: he alarms the wicked as the lion the deer.' The first com- 
mentator is a Swohhavika ; the second, an Aiswarika one. 

\ White, blue, yellow, red, and green, assigned to the five Dhyani Buddhas* 

For a detail of the lakshanas, anuvinjanas, balas, basitas, &c. of the neigh- 
bouring quotations, see Appendix A. 

P 



122 



12. He is the possessor of the 10 virtues ; the giver of the 
10 virtues ; the lord of the 10 heavens ; lord of the Universe ; 
present in the 10 heavens. (Ditto.) 

13. By reason of the 10 jnyans, his soul is enlightened. He 
too is the enlightener of the 10 jnyans. He has 10 forms and 
10 significations, and 10 strengths, and 10 basitas. He is omni- 
present, the chief of the Munis. (Ditto.) 

14. He has five bodies, and five jnyans, and five sights ; is 
the mukat of the five Buddhas, without partner. (Ditto.) 

15. He is the creator of all the Buddhas: the chief of the 
Bodhi satwas are cherished by him. He is the creator of Prajnd, 
and of the world ; himself unmade. Aliter, he made the world by 
the assistance of Prajnd ; himself unmade. He is the author of 
virtue, the destroyer of all things.* (Ditto.) 

16. He is the essence of all essences. He is the Vajra-dtma. 
He is the instantly-produced lord of the universe ; the creator of 
Akdsh. He assumes the form of fire, by reason of the Prajnya- 
rupi-jnydn, to consume the straw of ignorance. (Ditto.) 

A' di, Prajnd, or Dharma. 
1. I salute that Praj?id Paramitd, who by reason of her omni- 
science causes the tranquillity-seeking Srdvakas] to obtain absorp- 
tion ; who, by her knowledge of all the ways of action, causes each 
to go in the path suited to his genius, of whom wise men have 
said, that the external and internal diversities belonging to all 
animate nature, as produced by her, who is the mother of 
Buddha (Buddha Mdtrd) of that Buddha to whose service all 
the Srdvakas and Bodhi-satwas dedicate themselves. (Pancha- 
vingsati Sahas?ika.) 

* The comment on this passage is very full, and very curious, in as much as 
it reduces many of these supreme deities to mere parts of speech. Here is the 
summing up of the comment: 'He (A'di Buddha) is the instructor of the 
Buddhas and of the Bodhi-satwas. Hejs known by the knowledge of spiritual 
wisdom. He is the creator and destroyer of all things, the fountain of virtue.' 
Spiritual wisdom is stated to consist of Sila, Samadhi, Prajna, Vimukhti, and 
Jnyan, 

f Narne of one of the aseetical orders of Buddhists. See Preface. 



123 



2. First air, then fire, then water, then earth,* and in the 
centre of earth, Sum4ru, the sides of which are the residence of 
the 33 millions of gods (Devatds,) and above these, upon a Lotos 
of precious stones, sustaining the mansion of the moon (or a 
moon-crescent) sits Prajnd Paramitd, in the Lallita"dsan man- 
ner ;f Prajnd, the mother of all. the gods (Prasu-bhagavatdng,) 
and without beginning or end, (anddyant.) (Bhadra Kalpavaddn.) 

3. I make salutation to the Prajnd Devi, who is the Prajnd 
Paramitd, the Prajnd rupa, the Nir rupa, and the universal mo- 
ther. (Pujd kand.) 

4. Thou Prajnd art, like Akdsh, intact and intangible ; thou 
art above all human wants; thou art established ' by thy own 
power. He who devoutly serves thee serves the Tathdgata also. 
{Ashta Sahasrika.) 

5. Thou mighty object of my worship ! thou Prajnd, art the 
sum of all good qualities ; and Buddha is the Guru of the world. 
The wise make no distinction between thee and Buddha. {Ashta 
Sahasrika.) 

6. O thou who art merciful to thy worshippers, the benevolent, 
knowing thee to be the source of Bauddha excellence, attain per- 
fect happiness by the worship of thee ! (Ditto.) 

7. Those Buddhas who are merciful, and the Gurus of the 
world, all such Buddhas are thy children. Thou art all good, 
and the universal mother (Sakaljagat Pita Mahi.) (Ditto.) 

8. Every Buddha assembling his disciples instructs them 
how from unity thou becomest multiformed and many named. 
(Ditto.) 

9. Thou comest not from any place, thou goest not to any 
place. Do the wise nowhere find thee ?| (Ditto.) 

* In this enumeration of material elements, Akash is omitted : but it U 
mentioned, and most emphatically, in quot. 4, as in the 50 other places quoted. 
In like manner, the five elements are frequently mentioned, without allusion to 
the 6th, which however occurs in fit places. Omission of this sort is no denial, 

f i. e, one leg tucked under the other, advanced and resting- on the bow of 
the moon-crescent. 

| The force of the question is this, the wise certainly find thee. 

P 2 



124 



10. The Buddhas, Pratyeka Buddhas, and Srdvakas,* have 
all devoutly served thee. By thee alone is absorption obtained. 
These are truths revealed in all Shdstras. (Ditto.) 

11. What tongue can utter thy praises, thou of whose being 
(or manifestation) there is no cause but thy own will. No Purdna 
hath revealed any attribute by which thou mayest certainly be 
known. (Ditto.) 

12. When all was Sunydta, Prdjnd Devi was revealed out 
of Akdsh with the letter U ; Prdjnd, the mother of all the Bud- 
dhas and Bodhi-satwas, in whose heart Dharma ever resides ; 
Prdjnd, who is without the world and the world's wisdom, full of 
the wisdom of absolute truth : the giver and the ikon of that 
wisdom ; the ever living (Sanatani) ; the inscrutable ; the mother 
of Buddha.^ {Pujd hand.) 

13. O Prdjnd Devi / thou art the mother {Janani) of all the 
Buddhas, the grandmother of the Bodhi-satwas, and great grand- 
mother of all (other) creatures ! thou art the goddess (Isdni.) 
(Ditto.) 

14. Thou, Sri Bhagavati Devi Prdjnd, art the sum of all the 
sciences, the mother of all the Buddhas, the enlightener of Bodhi- 
jnydn, the light of the universe ! {Gunakdranda Vyuha.) 

15. The humbler of the pride of Namuchi-mdra, and of all 
proud ones : the giver of the quality of Satya ; the possessor of all 
the sciences, the Lakshmi; the protector of all mortals, such is the 
Dharma Ratna. (Ditto.) 

16. All that the Buddhas have said, as contained in the Mahd 
Ydna Sutra and the rest of the Sutras, is also Dharma Ratna. % 
(Ditto.) 

* The Buddhas are of three grades : the highest is Maha Yana, the medial, 
Pratyeka, and the lowest, Sravaka. These three grades are called collectively 
the Tri- Yana, or three chariots, bearing their possessors to transcendental 
glory. 

f Sugatja, which the Vamachars render, 'of whom Buddha was born the 
Dakshinachars, ' born of Buddha, or goer to Buddha' as wife to husband. 

| Hence the scriptures are worshipped as forms of Adi Dharma Sutra, 
means literally thread (of discourse.) aphorism. Sahya, like other Indian 

sages, 



125 



17. Because Buddha sits on the brow, the splendour thence 
derived to thy form illuminates all the ethereal expanse, and 
sheds over the three worlds the light of a million of suns, the four 
Devatds, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesa, and Indra, are oppressed be- 
neath thy feet, which is advanced in the Alir-Asan. O Arya Tar a ! 
he who shall meditate on thee in this form shall be relieved from 
all future births. (Sarakd Dhard.*) 

18. Thy manifestation, say some of the wise, is thus, from 
the roots of the hairs of thy body sprang Akdsh, heaven, earth, 
and hades, together with their inhabitants, the greater Devatds, 
the lesser, the Daityas, the Siddhds, Gandharbas, and Nagds. So 
too (from thy hairs,) wonderful to tell ! were produced the various 
mansions of the Buddhas, together with the thousands of Buddhas 
who occupy them.f From thy own being were formed all mov- 
ing and motionless things without exception. (Ditto.) 

19. Salutation to Prdjnd Devi, from whom, in the form of 
desire, the production of the world was excellently obtained, :f 
who is beautiful as the full moon, the mother of Adi Buddha, 
(Jinindra Matra,) and wife of (the other) Buddha, who is 
imperishable as adamant. (Sddhana Mala.) 

sages, taught orally, and it is doubtful if he himself reduced his doctrines to a 
written code, though the great scriptures of the sect are now generally attribut- 
ed to him. Sutra is now the title of the books of highest authority among the 
Bauddhas. 

* Composed by Sarvajna Mitrapada of Kashmir, and in very high esteem, 
though not of scriptural authority. 

f These thousands of Buddhas of immortal mould are somewhat opposed to 
the so called simplicity of Buddhism ! ! whatever were the primitive doctrines 
of Sahja, it is certain that the system attributed to him, and now found in the 
written authorities of the sect, is the very antipodes of simplicity. 

\ Dharmadya-sangata Kamrupini, variously rendered, ' well got from the 
rise of virtue,' « well got from the rise or origin of the world ;' also as in text, 
Dharmaddya, the source of all things, signifies likewise the Yoni, of which the 
type is a triangle. See 20. The triangle is a familiar symbol in temples of the 
uddha Saktis, and of the Triad. & The point in the midst represents ei- 
er A'di Buddha or A'di Projna, according to the theistic or atheistic tenden- 
y of his opinions who uses it. Our commentator is of the Vamachar or Athe- 
istic school, and such also is his text. 



126 



20. That Yoni, from which the world was made manifest, is 
the Trikonakar Yantra. In the midst of the Yantra or trikon 
(triangle) is a bindu (point, cypher): from that bindu, Adi 
Prdjnd revealed herself by her own will. From one side of the 
triangle Adi Prdjnd produced Buddha, and from another side, 
Dharma, and from the third side, Sangha. That Adi Prdjnd is 
the mother of that Buddha who issued from the first side ; and 
Dharma, who issued from the second side, is the wife of the 
Buddha of the first side, and the mother of the other Buddhas. 
(Comment on quotation 19.) 

21. Salutation to Prdjnd Pdramitd, the infinite, who, when 
all was void, was revealed by her own will, out of the letter U. 
Prdjnd, the Sakti of Updya, the sustainer of all things, (Dhar- 
miki) the mother of the world, (Jagat-mdtra ;) the Dhydn-rupa, 
the mother of the Buddhas. The modesty of women is a form 
of her, and the prosperity of all earthly things. She is the wisdom 
of mortals, and the ease, and the joy, and the emancipation, and 
the knowledge. Prdjnd is present every where. ( Sddhana Mala.) 

Adi Sangha. 

1. That Amitabha, by virtue of his Samta-jnydn, created the 
Bodhi-satwa named Padma-pdni, and committed to his hands the 
lotos* (Gunakdranda Vydha.) 

2. From between his (Padma-pdni' V) shoulders sprang Brah- 
ma ; from his forehead, Mahd Deva ; from his two eyes, the sun 

* Type of creative power. Amitabha is the 4th Dhyani or celestial Buddha : 
Padma-pani is his JEon and executive minister. Padma-pani is the prcesens 
Divus and creator of the existing system of worlds. Hence his identification 
with the third member of the Triad. He is figured as a graceful youth, erect, 
and bearing in either hand a lotos and a jewel. The last circumstance explains 
the meaning of the celebrated Shadahshari Mantra, or six-lettered invocation 
of him, viz. Om ! Mane padme horn ! of which so many corrupt versions and more 
corrupt interpretations have appeared from Chinese, Tibetan. Japanese, Mongo- 
lese, and other sources. The mantra in question is one of three, addressed to the 
several members of the Triad. But the prcesens Divus, whether he be Augustus 
or Padma-pani, is every thing with the many. Hence the notoriety of this man- 
tra, whilst the others are hardly ever heard of, and have thus remained unknown 
to our travellers. 



127 



and moon ; from his mouth, the air ; from his teeth, Saraswati ; 
from his belly, Varuna ; from his knees, Lakshmi ; from his feet, 
the earth ; from his navel, water ; from the roots of his hair, the 
Indras and other Devatds. (Ditto.) 

3. For the sake of obtaining Nirvritti, I devote myself to the 
feet of Sangha, who, having assumed the three Gunas, created 
the three worlds. (Puja kand.) 

4. He [Padma-pdni) is the possessor of Satya Dharma, the 
Bodhi-satwa, the lord of the world, the Mahd-sativa, the master 
of all the Dharmas. (Gunakdranda Vyuha.) 

5. The lord of all worlds, (Sarvalokddhipa,) the Sri-man, the 
Dharma Raja, the Lokeswara, sprang from Adi-Buddha % (Jinat- 
muja.) Such is he whom men know for the Sangha Ratna. 
(Ditto.) 

6. From the union of the essences of Updya and of Prdjnd\ 
proceeded the world, which is Sangha. 

P. S. With regard to the consistency or otherwise of the view 
of the subject taken in the sketch of Buddhism, with the general 
tenor of the foregone quotations, I would observe, that the ideal 
theory involved in the Prdjnika, Swabhdvikas, and in the Karmika 
doctrines, was omitted by me in the sketch, from some then remain- 

* From A'mitabha Buddha immediately : mediately from A'di Buddha. 

f Such is the Aiswarika reading-. The Prajnikas read ' from the union of 
Prajna and Upaya.' 

"With the former, Upaya is A'di Buddha, the efficient and plastic cause, or 
only the former ; and Prajna is A'di Dharma, plastic cause, a biunity with 
Buddha, or only a product. With the latter, Upaya is the energy of Prajna, 
the universal material cause. 

The original aphorism, as I believe, is, ' Prajnoupayatmakang jagata? which 
I thus translate ; ' From the universal material principle, in a state of activity, 
proceeded the world.' This original Sutra has, however, undergone two trans- 
formations to suit it to the respective doctrines of the Triadic Aiswarikas and of the 
Karmikas. The version of the former is, Upayprajnamakang sangha, that of 
the latter is, Upayprajnatmahang manasa. Of both, the Upaya is identical with 
A'di Buddha, and the Prajna with A'di Dharma. But the result— the 
unsophisticated jagat of the Parjnikas, became A'di Sangha, a creator, with the 
Aiswarikas ; and Manasa, the sentient principle in man, the first production, 
and producer of all other things, with the Karmikas. Avidya, or the condition 

of 



128 



ing hesitation as to its real drift, as well as its connexion with those 
schools, and no other. Upon this exclusive connexion I have still 
some doubt. For the rest, I retain unchanged the opinions ex- 
pressed in the sketch, that the Karmika and Ydtnika schools are 
more recent than the others — that they owe their origin to attempts 
to qualify the extravagant quietism of the primitive Swabhavikas, 
and even of the Aiswarikas — and that their contradistinguishing 
mark is the preference given by them respectively to morals, or to 
intellect, with a view to final beatitude. The assertion of the 
Ashtasahasrika, that Swabhava, or nature absolutely disposes of 
us, not less than the assertion of others, that an immaterial ab- 
straction so disposes of us, very logically leads the author of the 
Buddha Charitra to deny the use of virtue or intellect. To op- 
pose these ancient notions was, I conceive, the especial object of 
those who, by laying due stress on Karma and Yatna, gave rise 
to the Karmika and Ydtnika schools. But that these latter enter- 
tained such just and adequate notions of God's providence, or 
man's free will, as we are familiar with, it is not necessary to sup- 
pose, and is altogether improbable. None such they could enter- 
tain if, as I believe, they adopted the more general principles of 
their predecessors. The ideal theory or denial of the reality of the 
versatile world, has, in some of its numerous phrases, a philosophi- 
cal foundation ; but its prevalence and popularity among the 

of mundane things and existences, is an illusion, alike with the Prajnikas and 
with the Karmikas. But, whilst the former consider Avidya the universal affec- 
tion of the material and immediate cause of all thing's whatever ; the latter re- 
gard Avidya as an affection of manas merely, which they hold to be an immate- 
rial principle and the mediate cause of all things else, A'di' Buddha being then- 
final cause. The phsenomena of both are homogeneous and unreal : but the 
Prajnikas derive them, directly, from a material source —the Karmikas, indirect- 
ly, from an immaterial fount. Our sober European thoughts and languages can 
scarcely cope with such extravagancies as these : but it would seem we must call 
the one doctrine material, the other, immaterial, idealism. 

The phaenomena of the Prajnikas are sheer energies of matter, those of the 
Karmikas, are sheer (human) perceptions. The notions of the former rest on 
general grounds— those of the latter, on particular ones, or (as it has been phras- 
ed) upon the putting the world into a man's self ; the Greek " panton metron 
anthropos." 



129 



Buddhists are ascribable principally to that enthusiastic contempt 
of action for which these quietists are so remarkable. Their pas- 
sionate love of abstractions is another prop of this theory. 

APPENDIX A. 

Detail of the principal attributes of Adi Buddha and of the 
18 Sunyata.. 



The 32 Lakshana. 



L 


J Chakrangkita pani pada 


16. 


f Pradakshina Vartaika ro- 


{ talata. 


\ mata. 


2. 


f Supratishthita pani pada 


17. 


U'rnalangkrita Mukhata. 


( talata. 


18. 


Singha purbardha Kayata. 


3. 


f J alabuddha Vaj ranguli 


19. 


Susambhita skandhata. 


( pani pada talata. 


20. 


Chittantarangata. 


4. 


J Mridu taruna hasta pada 


21. 


Rasrasagrata. 


i talata. 


22. 


Nyagradha parimandalata. 


5. 


Sapto chandata. 


23. 


U'shnisha Siraskata. 


6. 


Dirghangulita. 


24. 


Prabhuta Jihwata. 


7. 


Ayata parsha nita. 


25. 


Prastambarata. 


8. 


Riyu gatrata. 


26. 


Singha hanuta. 


9. 


U'stanga padata. 


27. 


Sukla hanuta. 


10. 


U'rdhanga romata. 


28. 


Sama dantata. 


11. Ainaya Junghata. 


29. 


Hansa Vikranta gamita. 


12. 


Paturu bahuta. 


30. 


Avirala dantata. 


13. 


Koshgata vasti guhyata. 


31. 


Sama chatwa ringsat dantata. 


14. 


Stivarna Varnata. 


32. 


Abhinila nettrata. 


15. 


Sukla chavita. 







The 80 Vyanjana. 

1. A'tamra nakhata. 3. Tunga nakhata. 

2. Snigdha nakhata. 4. Chittrangulita. 

Q 



130 



5. Anupurvangulita. 

6. Gudha Sirata. 

7. Mggrandhi Sirata, 

8. Gudha gulphata. 

9. Abishama padata. 

10. Singha Vikranta gamita. 

11. Naga Vikranta gamita. 
12\ Hansa Vikranta gamita. 
13,, Vrishabha vikranta gamita. 
14.. Pradakshina gamita. 

15. Charu gamita. 

16. x4.bakra gamita. 

17. Brita gatrata. 

18. Mrista gatrata. 

19. Anupurva gatrata. 

20. Suchi gatrata. 

21. Mridu. gatrata. 

22. Bisuddha gatrata. 

23. Paripurna Vyanjanata. 
2^ f Prathu charu mandala 

I gatrata. 

25. Sama kramata. 

26. Bisuddha n6ttrata. 

27. Sukumara gatrata. 

28. Adina gatrata. 

29. U'tsaha gatrata. 

30. Gambhira kukshata. 

31. Prasanna gatrata. 

22 f Subibhaktanga pratyan- 
( gata. 

33. Bitimira Sudhwa lakata. 

34. Bitdnga kukshita. 

35. Mrista kukshita. 

36. Abhya kukshita. 

37. Aksh6bha kukshita. 



38. Gambhira nabhita. 

39. Pradakshina varta nabhita. 

40. Samant prasadikata. 

41. Suchi samuda charata. 

42. Byapaga tailakal gatrata. 

J Gandha sadrisa sukumara 
(. panita. 

44. Snigdha pani lekhita. 

45. Gambhira pani lekhita. 

46. Ayta pani leVkhita. 

47. Natya6ta vachanata. 

48. Bimba pritibimbosthta. 

49. Mridu jihwata. 

50. Tanu jihwata. 

5 1 . Megha garjita ghosata. 

52. Rakta jihwata. 

j Madhura Charu manju 
I Swurata. 

54. Vritta dangstrata. 

55. Tikshna dangstrata. 

56. Sukla dangstrata. 

57. Sama dangstrata. 

58. Anupurva dangstrata. 

59. Tunga nasikata. 

60. Shuchi nasikata. 

61. Visala n^ttrata. 

62. Chittra pukshmata. 

j Sita sita kamala dala 
( nettrata. 

64. Ayet krikata. 

65. Sukla bhrukata. 

66. Susnigdha bhrukata. 

67. Pinayata bhuja latata. 

68. Sama karnata. 

69. Anupahata karnendriata. 



131 



70. Aparisthana lalatata. 

71. Prithu lalatata, 

72. Suparipurnottamangata. 

73. Bhramara sadrisa keshata. 

74. Chittra keshata. 

75. Guhya keshata. 



76. Asangunita keshata. 

77. Apurusha keshata. 

78. Surabhi keshata. 

79. Sribasta mukti kanangha. 
30 f ^ artu ^ a chinhita pani pa- 

l da talata. 



L Sweta. 

2. Nila. 

3. Pita, 

1. Dana. 

2. Sila. 

3. Santi. 

4. Virya. 

5. Dhyan. 

1. Pramudhita. 

2. Vimala. 

3. Prabhakari. 

4. Archishmati. 

5. Sudurjaya. 

1. Dukh'ha Jnyan. 

2. Samudya Jnyan, 

3. Nirodha Jnyan. 

4. Marga Jnyan. 

5. Dharma Jnyan. 

1. Prithivy akara. 

2. Jal akara. 

3. Agny akara. 

4. Vayu akara. 

5. Akas akara. 



The 5 Varana. 

4. Rakta. 

5. Syama. 

The 10 Pdramitd. 

6. Prajna. 

7. Upaya. 

8. Bala. 

9. Pranidhi. 
10. Jnyan. 

The 10 Bhuvana. 

6. Abhimukhi. 

7. Durangama. 

8. Sadhumati. 

9. Samanta prabha. 
10. Dharma m6gha. 

The 10 Jnydnas. 

6. Artha Jnyan. 

7. Sambirthi Jnyan. 

8. Parachitta Jnyan. 

9. Kshaya Jnyan. 

10. Anutpada Jnyan. 

The .10 Akara. 

6. Akasa nirodh akara. 

7. Vayu nir6dh akara. 

8. Agni nir6dh akara. 

9. Jala nir6dh akara. 
10. Prithivi nirodh akara, 

Q 2 



132 



1. Pran artha. 

2. Apan artha. 

3. Saman artha. 

4. Udan artha. 

5. Vyan artha. 



1. Sthana sthana Jnyan bala. 

2. Karma vipaka Jnyan bala. 

3. Nanadhatu Jnyan bala. 

4. Nana vimukti Jnyan bala. 

5. Satandria prapara Jnyan 

bala. 

6 c Sarvatragami pritipatti Jnyan 
bala. 



The 10 Artha. 

6. Kurm artha. 

7. Krikar artha. 

8. Nag artha. 

9. Deva dat artha. 
10, Dhananjy artha. 

The 10 Bala. 

7. Dhyan, Vimaksha Sama- 
dhi, Samapatti Sang- 
klesh, Vyavadan Sthana 
Jnyan bala. 

8. Purva nivasa nusmriti 
Jnyan bala. 

9. Vyuttiitpatti Jnyan bala. 
10. Asrabakshaya Jnyan bala, 



1. Ayur basita. 

2. Chitta basita^ 

3. Pariskara basita. 

4. Dharma basita. 

5. Abdhwi basita. 

1. Dharma kaya. 

2. Sambhoga kaya. 

3. Nirmana kaya. 

1. Mansa chakshu. 

2. Dharma chakshu. 

3. Prajnyan chakshu. 



The 10 Basita. 

6. Janma basita. 

7. Adhimukti basita, 

8. Pranidhana basita. 

9. Karma basita. 
10. Jnyan basita. 

The 5 Kaya. 

4. Maha Sukha kaya. 

5. Jnyan kaya. 

The 5 Chakshu. 

4. Divya chakshu. 

5. Buddha chakshu. 



5. Maha sunyata. 



The 18 Sunyata. 

1. Adhyatma sunyata. 

2. Bahirdha sunyata. 6. Paramartha sunyata. 

3. Adhyatma Bahirdha sunyata. 7. Sanscrita sunyata. 

4. Sunyata sunyata. 8. Asanscrita sunyata. 



133 



9. Atiyanta sunyata. 

10. Anabaragra sunyata. 

11. Anavakara sunyata. 

12. Prikriti sunyata. 

13. Sarvadharma sunyata. 

Matcw 

19. Lakshana sunyata. 



14. Salaksliana sunyata. 

15. Anupalambha sunyata. 

16. Abhava sunyata. 

17. Subhava sunyata. * 

18. Abhava Subhava sunyata. 

20 Sunyata. 

20. Alakshana sunyata. 



APPENDIX B. 

Classified enumeration of the principal objects oj Bauddha Worship, 

Ekamnaya* 

Upaya. 
Adi-Buddha. 
Maha-Vairochana. 
Ekamnayi. 
Prajna. 
Prajna-paramita. 
Dwayamnaya. 
1. 2. 
Upaya. Prajna. Root of theistic doctrine, 

1. 2. 
Prajna. Upaya. ^ Root of atheistic ditto. 
Trayamnaya. 



1. 


2. 


3. 


Dharma. 


Buddha. 


Sangha. 


2. 


1. 


3. 


Sangha. 


Buddha. 


Dharma. 


1. 


2. 


3. 


Buddha. 


Dharma. 


Sangha. 



Pancha-Buddhamnaya. 
4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 

Amitabha. Akshobhya. Vairochana. Ratnasambhava. Amoghasiddha, 
Pancha- Prajnamnayi. 
4. 2. 1. 3, 5. 

Pandara. Lochana. Vajradhatwisvari. Mamaki. Tara. 
Pancha- Sanghamnaya. 
4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 

Padmapani. Vajrapani. Samantabhadra. Ratnapani. Viswapani. 



184 



4. 

Bhrikuti-tara. 



1: 

Vairochana. 



4. 

Amitabha. 



4. 
Tara. 



Pancha- Sangha-Prajnamnayi. 
2. 1. 3. 5. 

Ugratara. Sitatara Ratnatara. Viswatara. 
Matantara- Pancha- Buddhamnaya, 
2. 3. 4. 5. 

Akshobhya. Ratnasambhava. Amitabha* Amoghasiddha. 
Matantara- Pancha- Prajnamnayi, 

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 
Vajradhatwisvari. Lochana. Maraaki. Pandara. Tara. 

Matantara- Pancha* Sanghamnaya. 
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 

Samantabhadra. Vajrapani. Ratnapani. Padmapani. Viswaparii. 
Matantara- Pancha-Sangha- Prajnamnayi. 
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 

Sitatara. Ugratara. Ratnatara. Bhrikutitara. Visvatara. 
Matantara- Pancha- Buddhamnaya. 
2. 1. 3. 5. . 

Amoghasiddha. Vairochana. Ratnasambhava. Akshobhya. 
Matantara- Pancha- Prajnamn ay i . 
2. ]. 3. 5. 

Mamaki. Vajradhatwisvari. Pandara. Lochana. 
Shad- A'mnaya-Buddhah. 
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 

Vairochana. Akshobhya. Ratnasambhava. Amitabha. Amoghasiddha. Vajrasatwa. 

Sh at- Prajnamnayi. i 
L 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 

Vajradhatwisvari. Lochana. Mamaki. Pandara. Tara. Vajrasatwatmika. 
Shat- Sanghamnaya. 
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 

Samantabhadra. Vajrapani. Ratnapani. Padmapani. Viswapani. Ghantapani. 
Manushiya- Sapta- Buddhamnaya. 
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 

Vipasyi. Sikhi. Viswabha. Kakutsanda Kanakamuni. Kasyapa. Sakyasinha. 
Matantara- Manushiya- Sapta- Buddhamnaya. 
6. 4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 7. 

Kasyapa. Kakutsanda. Sikhi. Vipasyi. Viswabha. Kanakamuni. Sakyasinha. 
Prajna- Misrita- Dhyani- Nava- Buddhamnaya. 

2. 1. 3. 
Akshobhya. Vairochana- Vajradhatwisvari. Ratnasambhava. 
8. 6. 4. 5. 7. 9. 

Pandara. Lochana. Amitabha. Amoghasiddha. Mamaki. Tara. 
Dhyani- Nava- Buddhamnaya, 
4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 

Amitabha. Akshobhya. Vairochana. Ratnasambhava. Amoghasiddha. 
8. 6. 7. 9. 

Vajradharma. Vajrasatwa. Vajraraja. Vajrakarma. 



135 



Dhyaiii- Nava- Prajnamnayi. 
4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 

Pandara. Lochana. Vajradhatwisvari. Mamaki. Tara. 
8. 6. 7. 9. 

Dharmavajrini. Vajrasatwatmika. Ratnavajrini. Karmavajrini. 

Dhyani- Nava- Sanghamndyah . 
4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 

Padraapani. Vajrapani. Samantabhadra. Ratnapani. Viswapank 
8. 6. _ 7. . 9. 

Dharmapani. Ghantapani. Manipani. Karmapani. 
Misrita-Nava-Buddhamnayanam ere Misrita-Nava- Sanghamnayak* 
2. 1. 3. 

Maitreya. Avalokiteswara. Gaganaganja. 
6. 4. 5. 7. 

Manjughosha. Samantabhadra. Vajrapani. Sarva-nivarana-vishkambhi. 
8. 9. 
Kshitigarbha. Khagarbha. 
Misrita-Nava- Bitddhamnayanam ete Nava-Dharmamnayah Paustakah Buddha- 
Dharma-sangha- Mandate Pvjanakrame etan Mulam. 

2. 1. 3. 

Gandavyuha. Prajna-paramita. Dasabhumiswara. 
6. 4. 5. 7. 

Saddharmapundarika. Samadhiraja. Lankavatara. Tathagataguhyaka. 
8. 9. 
Lalita-vistara. Suvama-prabba. 
Nava- Bodhisatwa- Sangha- Prajnamnuyah . 

4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 
Sitatara. Maitrayani. Bhrikutitara. Pushpatara. Ekajata. 

8. 6. 7. 9. 

Dipatara. Vagiswari. Dhupatara. Gandhatara. 

Nava- Devi- Prajnamnayi. 
2. 1. 3. 8. 4. 

Vajravidarini. Vasundhara. Ganapati-hridaya. Maricbi. Ushnisba-vijaya. 

5. 7. 8. 9. 
Pamasavari. Grahamatrika. Pratyangira. Dbwajagrakeyuri. 

Misrita- Nava-Dharmamnayah. 
U$.; 2. 1. 3. y 5. 

Pandara. Lochana. Vajradhatwiswari. Mamaki. Tara. 

8. 6. * 7. 9. 

Pratyangira. Vajrasatwatmika. Vasundhara. Guhyeswari. 
Manushiya- Nava- Buddhamnayah. 
4. 2. 1. 3. 5. 

Sikhi. Ratnagarbha. Dipankara. Vipasyi. Viswabhu. 

8. 6. 7. 9. 

Kasyapa. Kakutsanda. Kanakamuni. Sakyasinha. 



136 



Manush iya-Na va- Buddhamnayah . 
1. ' 1 "2. 3. * 4. 

Bipankara. Ratnagarbha. Vipasyi. Sikhi. 
6. 7. 8. 

Kakutsanda. Kanakamuni. Kasyapa. 

Manush iya- Nava- Prajnmnnayi. 
2. 3. 4. 

Lakshanavati. Vipasyanti. Sikhamalini. 



5. 

Viswabhu. 
9. 



1. 

Jwalavati. 
6. 

Kakudvati. 



5. 

Viswadhara. 
9. 

Yasodhara. 



Kanthanaraalini. Mahidhara. 
Nava- Bhikshu- Sanghamnayah* 
1. 2- 3. 4 * , 5 * 

Pradipeswara. Ratnaraja. Mahamati. Ratnadhara. A'kasaganja. 

6. 7. a. 9. 

Sakalamangala. Kanakaraja. Dharmodara. Ananda. 

Id Sri-Ekamnayadi-Navamnaya-Devatah Samaptah. 
N. B. The authority for these details is the Dharma Sangraha, or catalogue 
raisonne of the terminology of Bauddha system of philosophy and religion. 



No. IV. 

EUROPEAN SPECULATIONS ON BUDDHISM. 

(Printed from the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Nos. 32, 33, and 
34, A. D. 1834.) 

In the late M. Abel Remusat's review of my sketch of 
Buddhism, (Journal des Savans, Mai, 1831,) with the perusal of 
which I have just been favoured by Mr. J. Prinsep, there occurs 
(p. 263) the following passage : " L'une des croyances les plus 
importantes, et celle sur laquelle l'essai de M. Hodgson fournit 
le moins de lumieres, est celle des av^nemens ou incarnations 
(avatard). Le nom de Tathdgai^, (avenu*) qu'on donne a, Sakia 
n'est point explique" dans son memoire ; et quant aux incar- 
nations, le religieux dont les reponses ont fourni la substance 
de ce memoire, ne semble pas en reconnoitre d'autres que celles 
des sept Bouddhas. II est pourtant certain qu'on en compte une 

* A radical mistake ; see the sequel. 



137 



infinite d'autres ; et les lamas du Tibet se considerent eux memes 
corame autant de divinit^s incarnees pour le salut des hommes." 

I confess I am somewhat surprised by these observations, since 
whatever degree of useful information relative to Buddhism my 
essays in the Calcutta and London Transactions may furnish, 
they profess not to give any, (save ex vi necessitatis) concerning 
the 'veritable nonsens' of the system. And in what light, I 
pray you, is sober sense to regard " une infinite" of phantoms, 
challenging belief in their historical existence as the founders and 
propagators of a given code of laws ? The Lalliia Vistara gravely 
assigns 505, or according to another copy, 550, avatars to Sakya 
alone. Was I seriously to incline to the task of collecting and 
recording all that is attributed to these palpable nonentities ? or> 
was it merety desired that I should explain the rationale of the 
doctrine of incarnation ? If the latter only be the desideratum, 
here is a summary recapitulation of what I thought I had alrea- 
dy sufficiently explained. 

The scale of Bauddha perfectibility has countless degrees, seve- 
ral of which towards the summit express attributes really divine^ 
however short of the transcendental glory of a tathdgata in 
nirvritti. Nevertheless, these attributes appertain to persons subject 
to mortal births and deaths, of which the series is as little limited 
as is that scale of cumulative merits to which it expressly refers. 
But, if the scale of increasing merits, with proportionate powers, 
in the occupiers of each grade, have almost infinite extent, and yet 
mortal birth cleave to every grade but the very highest, what 
wonder that men-gods should be common ? or, that the appear- 
ance again in the fleshy of beings, who are far more largely gifted 
than the greatest of the devatas, should be called an avatar? 
Such avatars, in all their successive mortal advents till they can 
reach the estate of a tathdgata, are the arhantas, and the bodhisat- 
was, the pratyeka and the sravaka-Buddhas* They are gods 
and far more than gods ; yet they were originally, and still quoad 
birth and death are, mere men. When I stated that the divine 
Lamas of Tibet are, in fact, arhantas ; but that a very gross 
superstition had wrested the just notion of the character of the lat- 

R 



138 



ter to its own use, I thought I had enabled every reader to form 
a clear idea of that marvel of human folly, the immortal mortals, 
or present palpable divinities of Tibet ! How few and easy the 
steps from a theory of human perfectibility, with an apparently 
interminable metempsychosis, to a practical tenet such as the 
Tibetans hold ! 

But Remus at speaks of the incarnations of the tathdgatas: 
this is a mistake, and a radical one. A tathdgata may be such 
whilst yet lingering in the flesh of that mortal birth in which he 
reached this supreme grade ; — and here, by the way, is another 
very obvious foundation for the Tibetan extravagance — but when 
once, by that body's decay, the tathdgata has passed into nirvritti, 
he can never be again incarnated. The only true and proper 
Buddha is the Maha Ydnika or Tathdgata Buddha. Such are all 
the £ sapta Buddha ; of whom it is abundantly certain that not 
one ever was, or by the principles of the creed, could be, incar- 
nated. Sakya's incarnations all belong to the period preceding 
his becoming a Tathdgata. Absolute quietism is the enduring 
state of a Tathdgata : and, had it been otherwise, Buddhism would 
have been justly chargeable with a more stupendous absurdity 
than that from which Remusat in vain essays to clear it. 4 Plu- 
sieurs absolus — plusieurs infinis' there are ; and they are bad 
enough, though the absolute infinity be restricted to the fruition 
of the subject. But the case would have been tenfold worse had 
activity been ascribed to these beings ; for we should then have 
had an unlimited number of infinite ruling providences ! The infi- 
nite of the Buddhists is never incarnated ; nor the finite of the 
Brahmans. Avatars are an essential and consistent part of Brahman- 
ism — an unessential and inconsistent part of Buddhism : and there 
is always this material difference between the avatar of the former 
and of the latter, that whereas in the one it is an incarnation of 
the supreme and infinite spirit, for recognised purposes of crea- 
tion or rule ; in the other, it is an incarnation of a mere human 
spirit — (however approximated by its own efforts to the infinite) 
and for what purpose it is impossible to say, consistently with the 
principles of the creed. I exclude here all consideration of the 



139 



xlhydni, or celestial Buddhas, because Remusat's reference is ex- 
pressly to the seven mdnushi or human ones. 

The word tathdgata is reduced to its elements, and explained 
in three ways — 1st. thus gone, which means gone in such a man- 
ner that he (the tathdgata) will never appear again ; births 
having been closed by the attainment of perfection. 2nd. thus got 
or obtained, which is to say, (cessation of births) obtained, degree 
by degree, in the manner* described in the Bauddha scriptures, 
and by observance of the precepts therein laid down. 3rd. thus 
gone, that is, gone as it (birth) came — the pyrrhonic interpretation 
of those who hold that doubt is the end, as well as beginning, of 
wisdom ; and that that which causes birth, causes likewise the 
ultimate cessation of them, whether that 4 final close' be consci- 
ous immortality or virtual nothingness. Thus the epithet tathd- 
gata, so far from meaning 4 come' (avenu), and implying incarna- 
tion, as Bjemusat supposed, signifies the direct contrary, or 4 gone 
for ever,' and expressly announces the impossibility of incarnation ; 
and this according to all the schools, sceptical, theistic, and 
atheistic. 

I shall not, I suppose, be again asked for the incarnations of 
the tathdgatas* Nor, I fancy, will any philosophical peruser of 
the above etymology of this important word have much hesita- 
tion in refusing, on this ground alone, any portion of his serious 
attention to the 4 infinite' of Buddhist avatars, such as they really 
are. To my mind they belong to the very same category of my- 
thological shadows with the infinity of distinct Buddhas, which 
latter, When I first disclosed it as a fact in relation to the belief of 
these sectaries, led me to warn my readers 44 to keep a steady eye 
upon the authoritative assertion of the old scriptures, that Sakya 
is the 7th and last of the Buddhas."\ 

The purpose of my two essays on Buddhism was to seize and 
render intelligible the leading and least absurd of the opinions and 
practices of these religionists, in order to facilitate to my country- 

* To the question, what is the tathagata, the most holy of Buddhist scriptures 
returneth for answer, * It does not come again, it does not come again.' 
f Asiatic Researches, vol, xyi. p. 445. 

R 2 



140 



men the sti.dy of an entirely new and difficult subject in those ori- 
ginal Sanscrit authorities* which I had discovered and placed 
within their reach, but no living interpreters of which, I knew, 
were accessible to them, in Bengal or in Europe. 

I had no purpose, nor have I, to meddle with the interminable 
sheer absurdities of the Bauddha philosophy or religion ; and, had 
I not been called upon for proofs of the numerous novel state- 
ments my two essays contained, I should not probably have recur- 
red at all to the topic. But sensible of the prevalent literary scep- 
ticism of our day and race, I have answered that call, and furnish- 
ed to the Royal Asiatic Society, a copious selection from those origi- 
nal works which I had some years previously discovered the exist- 
ence of in Nepaul. I trust that a further consideration of my two 
published essays, as illustrated by the new paper just mentioned, 
will suffice to remove from the minds of my continental readers 
most of those doubts of Remusat, the solution of which does not 
necessarily imply conversancy on my part with details as absurd 
as interminable. I cannot, however, be answerable for the mis- 
takes of my commentators. One signal one, on the part of the 
lamented author in question, I have just discussed : others of im- 
portance I have adverted to elsewhere : and I shall here confine 
myself to the mention of one more belonging to the review from 
which I have quoted. In speaking of the classification of the people, 
Remusat considers the vajra acharya to be laics ; which is so far 
from being true that they and they alone constitute the clergy. 
The bhikshuka can indeed perform some of the lower offices of re- 
ligion : but the vajra acharya solely are competent to the discharge 
of the higher ; and, in point of fact, are the only real clergy. That 
the distinction of clerus et laicus in this creed is altogether an 
anomaly, resulting from the decay of the primitive asceticism of 

* Nearly 50 vols, in Sanscrit, and four times as many in the language of Ti- 
bet, were sent by me to Calcutta between the years 1824 and 30. The former 
had never been before heard of, nor the latter possessed, by Europeans. 

[See the notices of the contents of the Tibetan worts and their Sanscrit origi- 
nals by M. Csoma de Koros, and by Professor H. H. "Wilson in the 3rd vol. of 
Gleanings, and 1st vol. of Journal As. Soc — Ed.] 



141 

the sect, I have endeavoured to shew elsewhere, and cannot afford 
room for repetition in this place. 

The critics generally have been, I observe, prompt to adopt my 
caution relative to local superstitions, as opposed to the original 
creed of the Bauddhas. But they have carried their caution too far, 
and by so doing, have cast a shade of doubt and suspicion over 
things sufficiently entitled to exemption therefrom. Allow me, 
then, to reverse the medal, and to shew the grounds upon which 
a great degree of certainty and uniformity may always be presum- 
ed to exist in reference to this creed, be it professed where it 
may. 

Buddhism arose in an age and country celebrated for literature ; 
and the consequence was, that its doctrine and discipline were fix- 
ed by means of one of the most perfect languages in the world 
(Sanscrit), during, or immediately after, the age of its founder. 

Nor, though furious bigots dispersed the sect, and attempted to 
destroy its records, did they succeed in the latter attempt. The re- 
fugees found, not only safety, but protection, and honor, in the imme- 
diately adjacent countries, whither they safely conveyed most of 
their books, and where those books still exist, either in the original 
Sanscrit, or in most carefully-made translations from it. The Sata 
Sahasrika, Prajna Paramita, and the nine Dharmas, discovered 
by me in Nepaul, are as indisputably original evidence of Bud- 
dhism as the Vedas and Purdnas are of Brahmanism. The Kahgyur 
of Tibet has been 'proved to have been rendered into Tibetan 
from Sanscrit, with pains and fidelity : and if the numerous books 
of the Burmese and Ceylonese be not originals, it is certain that 
they were translated in the earlier ages of Buddhism, and that 
they were rendered into a language (high Prakrit) which, from its 
close affinity to that of the original books of the sect, (Sanscrit,) 
must have afforded the translators every facility in the prosecution 
of their labours. 

But if the Buddhists, whether of the continent or islands of In- 
dia, or of the countries beyond the former, still possess and con- 
sult the primitive scriptures of their faith, either in the original 
language, or in careful translations, made in the best age of their 



142 



church — wherefore, I would fain know, should European scholars, 
from their study, incessantly prate about mere local rites and opi- 
nions, constituting the substance of whatever is told to the intelli- 
gent traveller by the present professors of this faith in diverse re- 
gions — nay, constituting the substance of whatever he can glean 
from their books ? In regard to Nepaul, it is just as absurd to in- 
sinuate, that the Prajna Paramita, and the nine Dharmas were 
composed in that country, and have exclusive reference to it, as 
to say that the Hebrew Old, or Greek New, Testament was com- 
posed in and for Italy, France, or Spain exclusively. Nor is it 
much less absurd to affirm, that the Buddhism of one country is 
essentially unlike the Buddhism of any and every other country 
professing it, than it would be to allege the same of Christianity. 

Questionless, in the general case, documentary is superior to 
verbal evidence. But the superiority is not without limit : and 
where, on the one hand, the books referred to by our closet stu- 
dents are numerous and difficult, and respect an entirely new sub- 
ject, whilst, on the other hand, our personal inquirers have time 
and opportunity at command, and can question and cross-ques- 
tion intelligent witnesses, the result of an appeal to the living ora- 
cles will oft times prove as valuable as that of one to the dead. 

Let the closet student, then, give reasonable faith to the travel- 
ler, even upon this subject ; and, whatever may be the general 
intellectual inferiority of the orientals of our day, or the plastic 
facility of change peculiar to every form of polytheism, let him 
not suppose that the living followers of Buddha cannot be profit- 
ably interrogated touching the creed they live and die in ; and, 
above all, let him not presume that a religion fixed, at its earliest 
period, by means of a noble written language, has no identity of 
character in the several countries where it is now professed, not- 
withstanding that that identity has been guarded, up to this day, 
by the possession and use of original scriptures, or of faithful trans- 
lations from them, which were made in the best age of this Church. 

For myself, and with reference to the latter point, I can safely 
say that my comparisons of the existing Buddhism of Nepaul, with 
that of Tibet, the Indo-Chinese nations, and Ceylon, as reported 



143 



by our local inquirers, as well as with that of ancient India itself, 
as evidenced by the sculptures of Gya,* and of the cave temples 
of Aurungabad, have satisfied me that this faith possesses as 
much identity of character in all times and places as any other we 
know, of equal antiquity and diffusion, j 

p, S. — Whether Remusat's 4 avenu' be understood loosely, as 
meaning come, or strictly, as signifying come to pass, it will be 
equally inadmissible as the interpretation of the word Tathdgata; 
because Tathdgata is designed expressly to announce that all rei- 
teration and contingency whatever is barred with respect to the 

* See the explanation of these sculptures by a Nepaulese Buddhist in the Quar- 
terly Oriental Magazine, No. xiv. pp. 218, 222. 

f As a proof of the close agreement of the Bauddha systems of different 
countries, we may take this opportunity of quoting a private letter from Colo- 
nel Busney, relative to the ' Burmese Philosopher Prince,' Mekkhara Men, 
the King of Ava's uncle. 

" The prince has been reading with the greatest interest M. Csoma be 
Koros's different translations from the Tibet scriptures in your journal, and he 
is most anxious to obtain the loan of some of the many Tibetan works, which 
the Society is said to possess. He considers many of the Tibetan letters to be the 
same as the Burmese, particularly the b,?n,n, andy. He is particularly anxious to 
know if the monastery called Zedawuna still exists in Tibet, where according 
to the Burmese books, Gocama dwelt a long time, and with his attendant A- 
sanda planted a bough which he had brought from the great pipal tree, atBud- 
dha-Gaya. The prince is also anxious to know whether the people of Tibet 
wear their hair as the Burmese do ? how they dress, and how their priests 
dress and live ? The city in which the monastery of Zedawuna stood, is called 
in the Burmese scriptures Thawotthi, and the prince ingeniously fancies, that 
Tibet must be derived from that word. The Burmese have no s, and always use 
their soft th, when they meet with that letter in Pali or foreign words — hence 
probably Thawotthi is from some Sanscrit name Sawot. I enclose a list of coun- 
tries and cities mentioned in the Burmese writings, as the scene of Godama's 
adventures, to which if the exact site and present designation of each can be 
assigned from the Sanscrit or the Tibet authorities, it will confer an important 
favour on Burmese literati." It is highly interesting to see the spirit of inquiry stir- 
ring in the high places of this hitherto benighted nation. The information desir- 
ed is already furnished, and as might be expected, the Burmese names prove to 
be copied through the Prakrit or Pali, directly from the Sanscrit originals, in 
this respect differing from the Tibetan, which are translations of the same 
name — Ed, 



144 



beings so designated. They cannot come ; nor can any thing 
come to pass affecting them.* 

And if it be objected, that the mere use of the word avenu, in 
the past tense, does not necessarily imply such reiteration and 
conditional futurity, I answer that Remusat clearly meant it to 
convey these ideas, or what was the sense of calling on me for the 
successive incarnations of these avenus ? It has been suggested to 
me that absolu, used substantively, implies activity. Perhaps so, 
in Parisian propriety of speech. But I use it merely as opposed 
to relative with reference to mere mortals ; and I trust that the 
affirmation — there are many absolutes, many infinites, who are 
nevertheless inactive — may at least be distinctly understood. I 
have nothing to do with the reasonableness of the tenet so affirm- 
ed or stated, being only a reporter. 



No. V. 

FURTHER REMARKS ON M. REMUSAT's REVIEW OF BUDDHISM. 

(Printed from the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, No. 33. 
A. D. 1834.) 

Adverting again to Remusat's Review in the Journal des Sa- 
vans for May, 1831, I find myself charged with another omission 
more important than that of all mention of the Avatars. It is no 
less than the omission of all mention of any other Buddhas than 
the seven celebrated Manushis. The passage in which this sin- 
gular allegation is advanced is the following : " Les noms de ces 
sept personnages (the ' Sapta Buddha') sont connus des Chinois, et 
ils en mdiquent une infinite d'autres dont le Bouddhiste Nipalien 
ne parle pas" 

* Avenu signifies quodevenit, contigit, that which hath happened.— {Diction- 
naive de Trevoux.) Tathagata ; tatha thus (what really is), gata (known, ob- 
tained, )— ( Wilson's Sans. ~D\cL)—Ed. 



145 



My Essay in the London Transactions was the complement and 
continuation of that in the Calcutta Researches. Remusat was 
equally well acquainted with both ; and, unless he would have had 
me indulge in most useless repetition, he must have felt convinced 
that the points enlarged on in the former essay would be treated 
cursorily or omitted, in the latter. Why, then, did he not refer 
to the Calcutta paper for what was wanting in the London one ? 
Unless I greatly deceive myself, I was the first person who shew- 
ed clearly, and proved by extracts from original Sanscrit works, 
that Buddhism recognises " une infinite" of Buddhas, — Dhyani 
and Manushi, Pratyeka, Sravaka, and Maha Yanika. The sixteenth 
volume of the Calcutta Transactions was published in 1828. In 
that volume appeared my first essay, the substance of which had, 
however, been in the hands of the Secretary nearly three years before 
it was published.* In that volume I gave an original list of nearly 
1 50 Buddhas (p. 446, 449) : I observed that the Buddhas named in 
the Buddhist scriptures were " as numerous as the grains of sand on 
the banks of the Ganges but that, as most of them were nonentities, 
in regard to chronology and history, the list actually furnished would 
probably more than suffice to gratify rational curiosity •> on which ac- 
count I suppressed another long list, drawn from the Samadhi Raja, 
which was then in my hands, (p» 444.) By fixing attention on that 
cardinal dogma of sugatism, viz. that man can enlarge his facul- 
ties to infinity, I enabled every inquirer to conclude with certainty 
that the Buddhas had been multiplied ad libitum. By tracing 
the connexion between the Arhantas and the Bodhisatwas ; be- 
tween the latter again, and the Buddhas of the first, second, and 
third degree of eminence and power ; I pointed out the distinct 
steps by which the finite becomes confounded with the infinite, — 

* According to usage in that matter provided : a statement>iri which I request 
the present Secretary will have the goodness to bear me out. 

This delay was and is a necessary evil of the publication of an occasional vo- 
lume of Researches. It was to obviate the inconvenience in some measure that 
the present form of the Journal was adopted, but still this is inadequate to 
the production of papers of any magnitude, as we fear Mr. Hodgson feels by 
experience !— Ed. 

s 



146 



man with Buddha ; and I observed in conclusion that the epithet 
Tathagata, a synonyme of Buddha, expressly pourtrays this tran- 
sition. (London Transactions, vol. ii. part i.) Facts and dates 
are awkward opponents except to those, who, with Remusat's 
compatriot, dismiss them with a 6 tant pis pour les faits !' For 
years before I published my first essay, I had been in possession 
of hundreds of drawings, made from the Buddhist pictures and 
sculptures with which this land is saturated, and which drawings 
have not yet been published, owing to the delay incident to procur- 
ing authentic explanations of them from original sources. All 
the gentlemen of the residency can testify to the truth of this as- 
sertion ; and can tell those who would be wiser for the knowledge, 
that it is often requisite to walk needfully over the classic fields of 
the valley of Nepaul, lest perchance you break your shins against 
an image of a Buddha ! These images are to be met with every 
where,, and of all sizes and shapes, very many of them endowed 
with a multiplicity of members sufficient to satisfy the teeming 
fancy of any Brahman of Madhya Desa ! Start not, gentle reader, 
for it is literally thus, and not otherwise. Buddhas with three 
heads instead of one — six or ten arms in place of two ! The 
necessity of reconciling these things with the so called first prin^ 
ciples of Buddhism,* may reasonably account for delay in the 
production of my pictorial stores. Meantime, I cannot but smile 
to find myself condoled with for my poverty when I am really, 
and have been for ten years, accable des richesses ! One interest- 
ing result only have I reached by means of these interminable 
trifles ; and that is, strong presumptive proof that the cave temples 
of Western India are the work of Buddhists solely, and that the 
most apparently Bralunanical sculptures of those venerable fanes 
are, in fact, Buddhist. A hint to this effect I gave so long ago as 
1827, in the Quarterly Oriental Magazine, (No. XIV. p. 219 ;) 
and can only afford room to remark in this place, that subsequent 
research had tended strongly to confirm the impressions then de- 
rived from my very learned old friend Amirta, Nanda. The 
existence of an infinite number of Buddhas ; the existence of the 



* See Erskine's Essays in the Bombay Transactions. 



147 



whole Dhyani class of Buddhas ; the personality of the Triad : its 
philosophical meaning; the classification and nomenclature of the 
ascetical or true followers of this creed ; the distinction of its vari- 
ous schools of philosophy ; the peculiar tenets of each school, 
faintly but rationally indicated ; the connexion of its philosophy 
with its religion ; and, as the result of all these, the means of 
speaking consistently upon the general subject,* are matters for 
the knowledge of which, if Remusat be not wholly indebted to me 
and my authorities, it is absolutely certain that I am wholly unin- 
debted, to him and his ; for till he sent me, ten months ago, (I speak 
of the date of receipt,) his essay on the Triad, I had never seen 
one line of his, or any other continental writer's lucubrations on 
Buddhism. 

1 have ventured to advance above that in the opinion of a learn- 
ed friend, the Chinese and Mongolian works on Buddhism, from 
which the continental savans have drawn the information they 
possess on that topic, are not per se adequate to supply any very 
intelligible views of the general subject. 

As this is an assertion which it may seem desirable to support by 
proof, allow me to propose the following. Remusat observes, 
that a work of the first order gives the subjoined sketch of the 
Buddhist cosmogony. " Tons les etres etant contenus dans la tres 
pure substance de la pensee, une idee surgit inopinement etprodui- 
sit la fausse lumiere ; Quand la fausse lumiere fut nee, le vide et 
l'obscurite s'imposerent reciproquement des limites. Les formes 
qui en resulterent etant indeterminees, il y eut agitation et mouve- 
ment. De la naquit le tourbillon de vent qui contient les mondes. 
L'intelligence lumineuse etoit le principe de solidite, d'ou naquit 
la roue d'or qui soutient et protege la terre. Le contact mutuel 
du vent et du metal produit le feu et la lumiere, qui sont les priri- 
cipes des changemens et des modifications. La lumiere precieuse 
engendre la liquidity qui bouillonne a la surface de la lumiere ig- 

* A learned friend assures me that " a world of Chinese and Mongolian enig- 
mas have been solved by means of your general and consistent outline of the 
system, but for which outline the said enigmas would have continued to defy all 
the continental (Edipuses." 

S 2 



148 



nee. d'ou provient ie tourbillen d'eau qui embrasse les mondes de 
toute part." 

Now I ask, is there a man living, not familiar with the subject, 
who can extract a particle of sense from the above passage ? And 
are not such passages, produced in illustration of a novel theme, the 
veriest obscurations thereof ? But let us see what can be made of 
the enigma. This apercu cosmogonique of the Long-yan-king, is, 
in fact, a description of the procession of the five elements, one from 
another, and ultimately from Prajna> the universal material prin- 
ciple, very nearly akin to the Pradhan of the Kapila Sankhya. 
This universal principle has two modes or states of being, one of 
which is the proper, absolute, and enduring mode ; the other, the 
contingent, relative, and transitory. 

The former is abstraction from all effects, or quiescence: the latter 
is concretion with all effects, or activity. When the intrinsic energy 
of matter is exerted, effects exist ; when that energy relapses into re- 
pose, they exist not. All worlds and beings composing the versatile 
universe are cumulative effects ; and though the so-called elements 
composing them be evolved and revolved in a given manner, one from 
and to another, and though each be distinguished by a given proper- 
ty or properties, the distinctions, as well as the orderly evolution 
and revolution, are mere results of the gradually increasing and 
decreasing energy of nature in a state of activity.* TJpaya> or 'the 
expedient,' is the name of this energy ; — increase of it is increase of 
phenomenal properties decrease of it is decrease of phenomenal 
properties. All phenomena are homogeneous and alike unreal ; 
gravity and extended figure, no less so than colour or sound. 
Extension in the abstract is not a phenomenon, nor belongs pro- 

* Causes and effects, quoad the versatile world, cannot be truly alleged to ex- 
ist. There is merely customary conjunction, and certain limited effects of prox- 
imity in the precedent and subsequent, by virtue of the one true and universal 
cause, viz. Prajna, With the primitive Swabhavikas cause is not unitised : 
for the rest, their tenets are very much the same with those above explained in 
the text, only their conclusions incline rather to scepticism than dogmatism. It 
may also perhaps be doubted whether with the latter school, phenomena are un- 
real as well as homogeneous. In the text, I wouM be understood to state the 
tenets of the Prajnikas only. 



149 



peril/ to the versatile world. The productive energy begins at a 
minimum of intensity, and increasing to a maximum, thence de- 
creases again to a minimum. Hence dkdsh, the first product, has 
but one quality or property ; air, the second, has two ; fire, the third, 
has three ; water> the fourth, has four ; and earth, the fifth, has 
five.* 

These elements are evolved uniformly one from another in the 
above manner, and are revolved uniformly in the inverse order. 

Sunyatd, or the total abstraction of phenomenal properties, is 
the result of the total suspension of nature's activity. It is the 
ubi, and the modus, of the universal material principle in its pro- 
per and enduring state of nirvriti, or of rest. It is not nothing- 
ness, except with the sceptical few. The opposite of Sunyatd is 
Avidya. Now, if we revert to the extract from the Long-yan- 
king, and remember that la pens6e,| l'intelligence luminense, j and 
la lumiere precieusef refer alike to Prajna the material princi- 
ple of all things, (which is personified as a goddess by the religi- 
onists,) We shall find nothing left to impede a distinct notion 
of the author's meaning, beyond some metaphorical flourishes ana- 
logous to that variety of descriptive epithets by which he has cha- 
racterised the one universal principle. Tourbillon de vent, and 
tourbillon d'eau, are the elements of air and of water, respectively ; 
and le principe de solidite is the element of earth. 

" Tous les etres etant contenus dans la pure substance de Prajna 
une idee surgit inopinement et produisit la fausse lumiere :" — that 
is, the universal material principle, or goddess Prajna, whilst exist- 
ing in its, or her, true and proper state of abstraction and repose, 
was suddenly disposed to activity, or impressed with delusive mun- 
dane affection {Avidya.) " Quand la fausse lumiere fut nee, le 

* There is always cumulation of properties, but the number assigned to each 
clement is variously stated. 

f Prajna is literally the supreme wisdom, videlicet, of nature. Light and flame 
are types of this universal principle, in a state of activity. Nothing but extreme 
confusion can result from translating these terms au pied de la lettre, and without 
reference to their technical signification. That alone supremely governs both 
the literal and metaphorical sense of words. 



loO 



vide et l'obscurite" s'imposerent reciproquement des limites." The 
result of this errant disposition to activity ^ or this mundane affec- 
tion, was that the universal void was limited by the coming into 
being of the first element, or dkdsh, which, as the primary modifi- 
cation of Stinyatd (space), has scarcely any sensible properties. Such 
is the meaning of the passage " les, formes qui en resulterent 
etant indeterminees," immediately succeeding the last quotation. 
Its sequel again, "il y eut agitation et mouvement," merely refers 
to mobility being the characteristic property of that element (air) 
which is about to be produced. " De la naquit le tourbillon de 
vent, qui contient les mondes." Thence (i. e. from dkdsh) pro- 
ceeded the element of the circumambient air, " L'intelligence lu- 
mineuse etoit le principe de solidite, d'ou naquit la roue d'or qui 
soutient et protege la terre." Prajnd in the form of light (her 
pravrittika manifestation) was the principle of solidity, whence 
proceeded the wheel of gold which sustains and protects the earth. 
Solidity, the diagnostic quality of the element of earth, stands 
for that element ; and the wheel of gold is mount Meru, the dis- 
tinctive attribute of which is protecting and sustaining power : 
this passage, therefore, simply announces the evolution of the 
element of earth, with its mythological appendage, mount Meru. 
But, according to all the authorities within my knowledge, earth 
is the last evolved of the material elements. Nor did I ever meet 
with an instance, such as here occurs, of the direct intervention 
of the first cause {Prajnd) in the midst of this evolution of the 
elements. " Le contact mutuel du vent et du metal produit le feu 
et la lumiere, qui sont les principes des changemens." The mutu- 
al contact of the elements of air and of earth produced fire and 
light, which are the principles of change. This is intelligible, allow- 
ance being made for palpable mistakes. I understand by it, mere- 
ly the evolution out of the element of air of that of fire, of which 
light is held to be a modification. To the igneous element is 
ascribed the special property of heat, which is assumed by our 
author as the principle of all changes and transformations. Metal 
for earth is an obvious misapprehension of Remusat's. Nor less 
so is the false allocation of this element (earth) in the general evo- 
lution of the five, and its introduction here. 



151 



" La lumiere precieuse engendre la liquidity qui bouillonne a 
la surface de la lumiere ignee, d'on provient le tourbillon d'eau qui 
embrasse les mondes." 

Prajna (in the form of light) produces the liquidity which boils 
on the surface of igneous light, whence proceeds the element of 
water embracing the world. 

This figurative nonsense, when reduced to plain prose, merely 
announces the evolution of the element of water from that of fire. 
Our terrestrial globe rests upon the waters like a boat, according 
to the Buddhists ; and hence the allusion (embracing the world) 
of the text. What is deserving of notice is the direct interference, 
a second time, (and in respect to earth, a third time,) of the cau- 
sa causans with the procession of the elements, one from another. 
All my authorities are silent in regard to any such repeated and 
direct agency ; which amounts in fact, to creation properly so call- 
ed — a tenet directly opposed to the fundamental doctrine of all the 
Swabhavikas. Certain Buddhists hold the opinion, that all materi- 
al substances in the versatile world have no existence independent 
of human perception. But that the Chinese author quoted by Mr. 
Remusat was one of these idealists, is by no means certain. His 
more immediate object, in the passage quoted, evidently was, to 
exhibit the procession of the five material elements, one from ano- 
ther. To that I at present confine myself, merely observing of the 
other notion, that what has been stated of the homogeneousness 
and unreality of all phenomena, is not tantamount to an admission 
of it. The doctrine of Avidya, the mundane affection of the uni- 
versal principle, is not necessarily the same with the doctrine 
which makes the sentient principle in man the measure of all things* 
Both may seem, in effect, to converge towards what we very 
vaguely call idealism ; but there are many separate paths of in- 
quiry by which that conclusion may be reached. 

Nepaul, August, 1834. 

* Manas, the sixth element, is the sentient principle in man. The Chinese 
author mentions it not, unless the passage beginning " la meme force," and im- 
-mediately following that I have quoted, was designed to announce its evolution. 
That passage as it stands, however, does not assert more than the homogeneous- 
ness of this sixth element with the other five. 



152 



No. VI. 

REMARKS ON M. REMUSAt's REVIEW OF BUDDHISM. 

(Printed from ths Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, No. 34, 
A. D, 1834 ) 

I resume my notice of Remusat's speculations on Buddhism in 
the Journal des Savans. 

He observes, " On ne seroit pas surpris de voir que, dans ce 
systeme, la formation* et la destruction des mondes soient pre- 
sented comme les resultats d'une revolution perpetuelle et spon- 
tanee, sans fin et sans interruption and afterwards remarks, " II 
y a dans le fond meme des id6es Bouddhiques une objection 
contre l'eternite" du monde que les theologiens de cette religion 
ne semblent pas avoir prevue. Si tous les etres rentroient dans 
le repos reel et definitif a l'instant que les ph6nomenes cesseroi- 
ent et disparoitroient dans le sein de l'existence absolu, on con- 
coit un terme ou tous les etres seroient devenus Buddha, et ou le 
monde auroit cesse" d'exister." 

This Buddha, it is said, is " l'intelligence infinie, la cause sou- 
veraine, dont la nature est un effet." 

Now, if there be such a supreme immaterial cause of all things^ 
what is the meaning of alleging that worlds and beings are spon- 
taneously evolved and revolved? and, if these spontaneous opera- 
tions of nature be expressly allowed to be incessant and endless, what 
. becomes of the apprehension that they should ever fail or cease ? 

As to the real and definitive repose, and the absolute existence, 
spoken of, they are as certainly and customarily predicated of 
Diva natura by the Swabhavikas, as of God or Adi Buddha, by 
the Aiswarikas ; to which two sects respectively the two opposite 
opinions confounded by Remusat exclusively belong. 

Again, " Tout est vide, tout est delusion, pour l'intelligence 

* The question of formation is a very different one from that of continuance. 
Yet Remusat would seem to have confounded the two. See the passage be- 
ginning " Mais ce qui merite d'etre remarque." 



153 



supreme (Adi Buddha, as before defined.) L* Avidya seul donrie 
aux choses du monde sensible une sorte de realite passagere et 
purement phenomenal." Avidya, therefore, must, according to 
this statement, be entirely dependant on the volition of the one 
supreme immaterial cause: yet, immediately after, it is observed, 
" on voit, k travers des brouillards d'un langage enigmatique, 
ressortir l'idee d'une double cause de tout ce qui existe, savoir 
l'intelligence supreme (Adi Buddha) et 1' Avidya ou matiere." But 
the fact is, that Avidya is not a material or plastic cause. It is 
not a substance, but a mode — not a being, but an affection of a 
being — not a cause, but an effect. Avidya, I repeat, is nothing 
primarily causal or substantial: it is a phenomenon, or rather the 
sum of phenomena ; and it is " made of such stuff as dreams are." 
In other words, phenomena are, according to this theory, utterly 
unreal. The Avidyalists, therefore, are so far from belonging to 
that set of philosophers who have inferred two distinct substances 
and causes from the two distinct classes of phenomena existing in 
the world, that they entirely deny the justice of the premises on 
which that inference is rested. 

Remus at next observes, " Les effets materiels sont subordonn^s 
aux effets psychologiques" — and in the very next page we hear that 
" on appelle lois les rapports qui lient les effets aux causes, tant 
dans 1'ordre physique que dans l'ordre moral, ou, pour parler plus 
exactement, dans l'ordre unique, qui constitue l'univers." 

Now, if there be really but one class of phenomena in the world, 
it must be either the material, or the immaterial, class : conse- 
quently, with those who hold this doctrine, the question of the 
dependence or independence of mental upon physical phenomena, 
must, in one essential sense, be a mere facon de parler. And I 
shall venture to assert, that with most of the Buddhists — whose 
cardinal tenet is, that all phenomena are homogeneous, whatever 
they may think upon the further question of their reality or un- 
reality — it is actually such. 

It is, indeed, therefore necessary "joindre la notion d'esprit" 
before these puzzles can be allowed to be altogether so difficult as 
they seem, at least to be such as they seem ; and if mind or soul 

T 



154 



" have no name in the Chinese language," the reason of that at 
least is obvious ; its existence is denied ; mind is only a peculiar 
modification of matter ; et l'ordre unique de l'univers c'est l'ordre 
physique ! Not 50 years since a man of genius in Europe declar- 
ed that " the universal system does not consist of two princi- 
ples so essentially different from one another as matter and spi- 
rit ; but that the whole must be of some uniform composition ; so 
that the material or immaterial part of the system is superflu- 
ous." 

This notion, unless I am mistaken, is to be found at the bot- 
tom of most of the Indian systems of philosophy, Brahmanical and 
Buddhist, connected with a rejection in some shape or other of 
phenomenal reality, in order to get rid of the difficulty of different 
properties existing in the cause (ivhether mind or matter) and in 
the effect.* 

The assertion that " material effects are subordinate to psycho- 
logical" is no otherwise a difficulty than as two absolutely distinct 
substances, or two absolutely distinct classes of phenomena, are 
assumed to have a real existence ; and I believe that there is scarce- 
ly one school of Bauddha philosophers which has not denied the 
one or the other assumption ; and that the prevalent opinions in- 
clude a denial of both. All known phenomena may be ascribed 
to mind or to matter without a palpable contradiction ; nor, with 
the single exception of extent, is there a physical phenomenon 
which does not seem to countenance the rejection of phenomenal 
reality. Hence the doctrines of Avidya and of Maya ; and I would 
ask those whose musings are in an impartial strain, whether the 
Bauddha device be not as good a one as the Brahmanical, to 

* Remusat desired to know how the Buddhists reconcile multiplicity with 
unity, relative with absolute, imperfect with perfect, variable with eternal, na- 
ture with intelligence ? 

I answer; by the hypothesis of two modes— one of quiescence, the other of 
activity. But when he joins " l'esprit et la matiere" to the rest of his antitheses, 
I must beg- leave to say the question is entirely altered, and must recommend 
the captious to a consideration of the extract given in the text from a European 
philosopher of eminence. Not that I have any sympathy with that extrava- 
gance, but that I wish merely to state the case fairly for the Buddhists. 



155 



stave off a difficulty which the unaided wit of man is utterly un- 
able to cope with ? 

Questionless, it is not easy, if it be possible, to avoid the use 
of words equivalent to material and psychological ; but the tenet 
obviously involved in the formal subordination of one to the other 
class of phenomena, when placed beside the tenet, that all pheno- 
mena are homogenous, at once renders the former a mere trick of 
words, or creates an irreconcileable contradiction between the two 
doctrines, and in fact Remusat has here again commingled tenets 
held exclusively by quite distinct schools of Buddhist philosophy. 

If I have been held accountable for some of the notions above 
remarked on, I suspect that these my supposed opinions have 
been opposed by something more substantial than " des arguties 
mystiques." Remusat expressly says, " M. Hodgson a eu parfaite- 
ment raison d' admettre, comme base du systeme entier, Texis- 
tence d'un seul etre souverainement parfait et intelligent, de 
celui qu' il nomme Adi Buddha." Now, I must crave leave to 
say that I never admitted any thing of the sort ; but, on the con- 
trary, carefully pointed out that the 'systeme entier' consists of four 
systems, all sufficiently different, and two of them, radically so 
— viz. the Swabhavika and the Aiswarika. It is most apparent to 
me that Remusat has made a melange out of the doctrines of all 
the four schools ; and there are very sufficient indications in the 
course of this essay that his principal authority was of the Swa- 
bhavika sect. 

In speaking of the two bodies of Buddha he remarks, that " Ie 
veritable corps est identifie avec la science et la loi. La substance 
meme est la science (Prajna.)" He had previously made the same 
observation, " La loi meme est son principe et sa nature." Now 
those who are aware that Prajna (most idly translated law, sci- 
ence, and so forth,) is the name of the great material cause* can 

* Prakriteswari iti Prajna ■ and again, Dharanatmika iti Dharma. Dhnrma 
is a synonyme of Prajna. Prajna, means Supreme Wisdom. Whose? Nature's 
— and Natui-e's, as the sole, or only as the plastic, cause. 

So, again, Dharma means morality in the abstract, or the moral religious 

code 

T 2 



156 

have no difficulty in reaching the conviction that the Buddhist 
authority from whence this assertion was borrowed, — 'of Prajna 
being the very essence ; nature, and principle of Buddha,' — belong- 
ed to the Swabhavika school, and would have laughed at the co- 
ordinate doctrine of his translator, that Buddha is the sovereign 
and sole cause, of whom nature (Prajna) is an effect. 

The Swabhavika Buddhas, who derive their capacity of identi- 
fying themselves with the first cause from nature, which is that 
cause, are as all accomplished as the Buddhas of the Aiswarikas, 
who derive the same capacity from Adi Buddha, who is that cause. 

In this express character of sovereign cause only, is the Adi 
Buddha of the Aiswarikas distinguishable, amid the crowd of 
Buddhas of all sorts; and such are the interminable subtleties of 
the i systeme entier' that he who shall not carefully mark this 
cardinal point of primary causation, will find all others unavailing 
to guide him unconfusedly through the various labyrinths of the 
several schools. 

Did Remus at never meet with passages like the following ? 

" And as all other tilings and beings proceeded from Swabhava 
or nature, so did Vajra, Satwa, Buddha, thence called the self- 
existent." Even the Swabhavikas have their Dhyani Buddhas, and 
their triad, including, of course, an Adi Buddha. Names therefore, 
are of little weight ; and unmeasured epithets are so profusely scat- 
tered on every hand that the practised alone can avoid their snare. 
I did not admit a Theistic school, because I found a Buddha desig- 
nated as Adi, or the first ; nor yet because I found him yclept, 
infinite, omniscient, eternal, and so forth ; but because I found 
him explicitly contradistinguished from nature, and systematically 
expounded as the efficient cause of all. Nor should it be forgotten 
that when I announced the fact of a Theistic sect of Buddhists, I 



code of these religionists, or material cause, in either of the two senses hinted 
at above ; or, lastly, material effects, viz. versatile worlds. These are points to 
be settled by the context, and by the known tenets of the writer who uses the 
one or other word : and when it is known that the very texts of the Swabha- 
vikas, differently interpreted, have served for the basis of the Aiswarika doc? 
trine, I presume no further caveto can be required. 



157 



to 



observed that this sect was, as compared with the Swabhavika^ 
both recent and confined. 

If, in the course of this, and the three preceding letters, I have 
spoken harshly of Remusat's researches, let it be remembered, that 
I conceive my labours to have been adopted without acknowledg- 
ment, as well as my opinions to have been miserably distorted. I 
have been most courteously told, that " the learned of Europe are 
indebted to me for the name of Adi Buddha !" The inference is 
palpable that that is the extent of the obligation. Such insidious 
injustice compels me to avow in the face of the world my convic- 
tion that, whatever the Chinese and Mongolian works on Bud- 
dhism possessed by the French Savans may contain, no intelli- 
gible views were thence derived of the general subject before my 
essays appeared, or could have been afterwards, but for the lights 
those essays afforded.* I had access to the original Sanscrit 
scriptures of the Buddhists, and they were interpreted to me by 
learned natives, whose hopes hereafter depended upon a just un- 
derstanding of their contents. No wonder therefore, and little 
merit, if I discovered very many things inscrutably hidden from 
those who were reduced to consult barbarian translations from the 
most refined and copious of languages upon the most subtle and 
interminable of topics, and who had no living oracle ever at hand 
to expound to them the dark signification of the written word — to 
guide their first steps through the most labyrinthine of human 
mazes, f 

For the rest, and personally, there is bienseance for bienseance, 
and a sincere tear dropped over the untimely grave of the learned 
Remusat. 

* The case is altered materially now ; because my original authorities, which 
stand far less in need of living interpreters, are generally accessible. I have 
placed them in the hands of my countrymen and of others, and shall be happy 
to procure copies for any individual, or body of persons, in France, who may 
desire to possess them. 

f I beg to propose, as an experimentum crucis, the celebrated text — Ye Dhar- 
manitya of the Sata Sanasrika. If the several theistic, atheistic, and sceptical 
meanings wrapped up in these few words, can be reached through Chinese or 
Mongolian translations uninterpreted by living authorities, I am content to con- 
sider my argument worthless. 



158 



No. VII. 

NOTE ON THE INSCRIPTION FROM SARNATH. 

(Printed in the 40th No. of the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society.) 

I have just got the 39th Number of the Journal of the Asiatic 
Society and hasten to tell you, that your enigma requires no (Edi- 
pus for its solution at Kathmandu, where almost every man, woman, 
and child, of the Bauddha faith, can repeat the confessio fidei (for 
such it maybe called), inscribed on the Sarnath stone. Dr. Mill was 
perfectly right in denying the alleged necessary connexion between 
the inscription, and the complement to it produced by M. Csoma 
de Koros. No such complement is needed, nor is found in the great 
doctrinal authorities, wherein the passage occurs in numberless 
places, sometimes containing but half of the complete dogma of 
the inscription ; thus : — "Ye Dharma hetu-prabhava ; hetu teshdn 
Tathagata." Even thus curtailed, the sense is complete, without 
the " TesJian cha yd nirodha, evang (vddi) Malta Sramana," as 
you may perceive by the following translation : 

" Of all things proceeding from cause, the cause is Tathagata ;" 
or, with the additional word, "Of all things proceeding from 
cause; the cause of their procession hath the Tathagata explain- 
ed." To complete the dogma, according to the inscription, we 
must add, " The great Sramana hath likewise declared the cause 
of the extinction of all things." With the help of the commentators, 
I render this passage thus, " The cause, or causes of all sentient 
existence in the versatile world, the Tathagata hath explained. 
The Great Sramana hath likewise explained the cause, or causes 
of the cessation of all such existence." 

Nothing can be more complete, or more fundamental, than 
this doctrine. It asserts that Buddha hath revealed the causes 
of (animate) mundane existence, as well as the causes of its com- 
plete cessation, implying, by the latter, translation to the eternal 
quiescence of Nirvritti which is the grand object of all Bauddha 



159 



vows. The addition to the inscription supplied by M. Csoma, is 
the ritual application merely of the general doctrine of the in- 
scription. It explains especially the manner in which, according to 
the scriptures, a devout Buddhist may hope to attain cessation 
from mundane existence, viz. by the practice of all virtues, avoid- 
ance of all vices, and by complete mental abstraction. More 
precise, and as usually interpreted here, more theistic too, than 
the first clause of the inscription is the terser sentence already 
given ; which likewise is more familiar to the Nipalese, viz. " Of 
all things proceeding from cause ; the cause is the Tathagata :" — 
understanding by Tathagata, Adi Buddha. And whenever, in 
playful mood, I used to reproach my old friend, Amirta Nanda, 
(now alas! no more) with the atheistic tendency of his creed, 
he would always silence me with, " Ye Dharmd hetu-prabhavd; 
hetu teshan Tathagata;'' insisting, that Tathagata referred to the 
supreme, self-existent (Sivayambhu) Buddha.* 

Nor did I often care to rejoin, that he had taught me so to inter- 
pret that important word (Tathagata,) as to strip the dogma of its 
necessarily theistic spirit ! I have already remarked in your Journal, 
that the Swabhavika texts, differently interpreted, form the ground- 
work of the Aiswarika tenets. It will not, however, therefore, follow, 
that the theistic school of Buddhism is not entitled to distinct re- 
cognition upon the ground of original authorities; for the oldest 
and highest authority of all — the aphorisms of the founder of the 
creed — are justly deemed, and proved, by the theistic school, to 
bear legitimately the construction put upon them by this school — 
proved in many ancient books, both Puranika and Tantrika, 
the scriptural validity of which commands a necessary assent. As 
it seems to be supposed, that the theistic school has no other 
than Tantrika authorities for its support, I will just mention the 

* The great temple of Swayambhu Nath is dedicated to this Buddha : whence 
its name. It stands about a mile west from Kathmandu, on a low, richly wood- 
ed, and detached hill, and consists of a hemisphere surmounted by a graduated 
cone. 

The majestic size, and severe simplicity of outline, of this temple, with its 
burnished cone, set off by the dark garniture of woods, constitute the Chaitya of 
Swatajibhu Nath a very beauteous object. 



160 



Sioayambhu Pur ana and the Bhadra Kalpavaddn, as instances of 
the contrary. In a word, the theistic school of Buddhism, though 
not so ancient or prevalent as the atheistic and the sceptical schools, 
is as authentic and legitimate a scion of the original stock of oral 
dogmata whence this religion sprung, as any of the other schools. 
Nor is it to be confounded altogether with the vile obscenity and 
mystic iniquity of the Tantras, though acknowledged to have con- 
siderable connexion with them. Far less is it to be considered pecu- 
liar to Nepaul and Tibet, proofs of the contrary being accessible to 
all ; for instance, the Pancha Buddha Dhydni are inshrined in the 
cave at Bdgh, and in the minor temples surrounding the great 
edifice at Gya; and the assertion of our Ceylonese antiquaries, 
that there are only five Buddhas, is no other than a confusion of the 
five celestial, with the seven mortal, Buddhas! As I was looking 
over your Journal, my Newari painter came into the room. I 
gave him the catch word, "Ye Dharma," and he immediately 
filled up the sentence, finishing with Tathdgata. I then uttered 
"teshan cha," and he completed the doctrine according to the 
inscription. But it was to no purpose that I tried to carry him 
on through De Koros's ritual complement : he knew it not. Af- 
ter I had explained its meaning to him, he said, the substance of 
the passage was familiar to him, but that he had been taught 
to utter the sentiments in other words, which he gave, and in 
which, by the way, the ordinary Buddhist acceptation of Kushal 
and its opposite, or Akushal, came out. Kushal is good. Akushal 
is evil, in a moral or religious sense. Quod licitum vel manda- 
tum : quod illicitum vel prohibitum. 

I will presently send you a correct transcript of the words of the 
inscription, from some old and authentic copy of the Raksha 
Bhagavati, or Prajnd Paramitd, as you seem to prefer calling it. 
So will I of De Coros's supplement so soon as I can lay my 
hands on the Shurangama Samddhi, which I do not think I have 
by me. At all events, I do not at once recognise the name as 
that of a distinct Bauddha work. Meanwhile, you will notice, 
that as my draftsman, above spoken of, is no pandit, but a perfect- 
ly illiterate craftsman merely, his familiar acquaintance with your 



161 



inscription may serve to show how perfectly familiar it is to all 
Buddhists. And here I would observe, by the way, that I have 
no doubt the inscription on the Dehli, Allahabad, and Behar pil- 
lars is some such cardinal dogma of this faith. 

In the " Quotations in proof of my sketch of Buddhism," which 
I sent home last year, I find the following quotation in proof of 
the Aiswarika system. 

" All things existent (in the versatile world) proceed from some 
cause ; that cause is the Tathagata (Adi Buddha) ; and that 
which is the cause of (versatile) existence is likewise the cause of 
its total cessation. So said Sakya Sinha."* The work from 
which this passage was extracted is the Bhadra Kalpavaddn. 

I am no competent critic of Sanscrit, but I have competent au- 
thority for the assertion, that Dharma, as used in the inscription, 
means not human actions merely, but all sentient existences in the 
three versatile worlds (celestial, terrene, and infernal). Such is 
its meaning in the extract just given from the Bhadra Kalpava- 
dan, and also in the famous Ye Dharmanitya of the Sata Sahasri- 
ka, where the sense is even larger, embracing the substance of all 
inanimate as well as animate entity, thus: " All things are impe- 
rishable," or, " The universe is eternal," (without maker or des- 
troyer.) The passage just quoted from the Sata Sahasrika serves 
likewise (I am assured) to prove that the signification of ye is not 
always strictly relative, but often expletive merely: but let that pass. 

The points in question undoubtedly are, — existence in the 
Pravrittika or versatile world, and cessation of such existence, by 
translation to the world of Nirvritti ; and of such translation, ani- 
mals generally, and not human beings solely, are capable. Wit- 
ness the deer and the chakwa, which figure so much in Bauddha 
sculptures! The tales of their advancement to Nirvritti are po- 
pularly familiar. The word nirodha signifies, almost universally 
and exclusively, extinction, or total cessation of versatile exist- 
ence ; a meaning, by the way, which confirms and answers to the 
interpretation of dharma, by general existences, entities, and not 
by merely human actions. 

* The words bracketed are derived from commentators. 

u 



162 



It is scarcely worth while to cumber the present question with 
the further remark that there is a sect of Bauddha philosophers 
holding opinions which confound conscious actions with univer- 
sal entities throughout the versatile world, making the latter ori- 
ginate absolutely and physically from the former, (see my re- 
marks on Remusat in the Journal, No. 33, p. 431.) 

It is not, however, admissible so to render generally received 
texts, as to make them correspondent to very peculiar dogmata. 
" Dharanatmika iti dharma? the holding, containing, or sustain- 
ing, essence (ens) is dharma. The substratum of all form and 
quality in the versatile universe, the sustainer of versatile entity, 
mundane substances and existences, physical and moral, in a word, 
all things. Such is the general meaning of dharma. How many 
other meanings it has, may be seen by reference to a note at the 
foot of p. 502, No. 34, of your Journal. The root of the word is 
dhri, to hold. Wilson's dictionary gives Nature as Amera Sinha's 
explanation of dharma. This i& essentially correct, as might be 
expected from a Bauddha lexicographer. 



Note. — If Mr. Hodgson's general interpretation of is the 
true one, (which seems most probable, though its specification in 
the sense of moral duties is more agreeable to M. C soma's supple- 
ment)- — its implication, in the present reading, at least, appears 
manifestly atheistic. For that it cannot mean " Tathagata or the 
Adi Buddha is the cause," is evident from the accusative hetua 
(which is also plural, caums.) Even if we were to strike out the 
word avadat or aha — the former of which is on the inscriptions, 
and the latter repeated in Ceylon — still some word of that mean- 
ing is plainly understood : and this may help to shew that the ex- 
plication given by the Aiswaraka Buddhists (as though the words 
were %rj%^fT <T3Tl?TrT: hetus tesham Tathagatas) is a more re- 
cent invention, — and that the Buddhist system properly recogniz- 
es no being superior to the sage expounder of physical and mo- 
ral causes, — whose own exertions alone have raised him to the 



163 



highest rank of existences, — the Epicurus of this great Oriental 
system, 

qui potuit rerum eognoscere causas, 
Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum 
Subjecit pedibus. 
What is mere figure of speech in the Roman poet, to express 
the calm dignity of wisdom, becomes religious faith in the east ; 
viz. the elevation of a philosophical opponent of popular supersti- 
tion and Brahmanical caste, to the character of a being supreme 
over all visible and invisible things, and the object of universal 
worship. — W. H. M. 



Note on the Note of W. H. M. — My friendly and learned anno- 
tator is right as to the comparative recency of the Aishwarika 
school and may find that opinion long since expressed by myself. 
But he is wrong in supposing that that school has no old or un- 
questionable basis; for both Mr. De Koros and myself have pro- 
duced genuine and ancient authorities in its support. So that it is 
hardly fair to revert to the fancies of Sir W. Jones' day, under 
cover of a Latin quotation ! As to verbal criticism, it is surely 
scarce necessary to observe that the governing verb being re- 
moved, the noun will take the nominative case. I quoted popular 
words popularly and omitted the nice inflexions of case and num- 
ber. That my terser text is familiar to the mouths of Buddhists, 
is an unquestionable fact ; and I never said, either that this terser 
form was that of the inscription, or that I had seen scriptural au- 
thority for it, ipsissimis verbis. 

The express causes of versatile existence, alluded to by Sakya, 
in the text graved at Sarnath, are Avidya, Sanscar, &c. as enumera- 
ted in my Quotations in Proof under the head of the Karmika 
doctrines ; and there, too, may be found the cause or causes of the 
extinction of such existence. 



164 



No. VIII. 

NOTICE OF ADI BUDDHA AND OF THE SEVEN MORTAL BUDDHA 

From the Swayambhu Purdna. 

(Printed from the Bengal Asiatic Journal, No. 29, A. D. 1834. ) 

The Swayarnbhu Purana relates in substance as follows : That 
formerly the valley of Nepaul was of circular form, and full of 
very deep water, and that the mountains confining it were cloth- 
ed with the densest forests, giving shelter to numberless birds 
and beasts. Countless waterfowl rejoiced in the waters. The 
name of the lake was Naga Vasa ; it was beautiful as the lake of 
Indra; south of the Hemachal, the residence of Karkotaka, prince 
of the Nagas ; seven cos long, and as many broad. In the lake were 
many sorts of water-plants ; but not the lotos. After a time, Vi- 
pasyi Buddha arrived, with very many disciples and Bhikshus, 
from Vindumati Nagar, in Madhya Desa, at the Lake of Naga 
Vasa, in the course of Ins customary religious peregrinations. Vi- 
pasyi, having thrice circumambulated the lake, seated himself in 
the N. W. (Vayukona) side of it, and, having repeated several 
mantras over the root of a lotos, he threw it into the water, ex- 
claiming, " What time this root shall produce a flower, then, from 
out of the flower, Swayambhu, the Lord of Aknishtha Bhavana,. 
shall be revealed in the form of flame; and then shall the lake 
become a cultivated and populous country." Having repeated 
these words, Vd?asyi departed. Long after the date of this pro- 
phecy, it was fulfilled according to the letter. 

After Vipasyi Buddha, came Sikhi Buddha to Naga Vasa 
with a great company of respectful followers, composed of rajas 
and persons of the four castes (chatur varana.) Sikhi, so soon 
as he beheld J yoti-rup- Swayambhu, offered to him many 
laudatory forms of prayer : then rising, he thrice walked round 
Naga Vasa, and, having done so, thus addressed his disciples ; 



165 



" This place shall hereafter, by the blessing of Swayambhu, 
become a delightful abode to those who shall resort to it from all 
quarters to dwell in it, and a sweet place of sojourn for the pilgrim 
and passenger : my apotheosis is now near at hand, do you all take 
your leave of me and depart to your own country." So saying 
Sikhi threw himself into the waters of Naga Vasa, grasping in his 
hands the stalk of the lotos, and his soul was absorbed into the 
essence of Swayambhu. Many of his disciples, following their 
master, threw themselves in the lake, and were absorbed into Swa- 
yambhu, (i. e. the self-existent ;») the rest returned home, Viswa- 
bhu was the third Buddha who visited Naga Vasa. Viswabhu 
was born in Anupama-puri-nagar, of Madhya Desa, (in the Trita 
yuga ;) his life was devoted to benefitting his fellow-creatures. 
His visit to Nepaul was long after that of Sikhi, and, like Sikhi, 
he brought with him a great many disciples and Bhikshas, Rajas 
and cultivators, natives of his own land. Having repeated the 
praises of Swayambhu-jyoti-rupa, he observed ; " In this lake 
Prajna-surupa-Guhyeswari will be produced. A Bodhisatwa will, 
in time, make her manifest out of the waters : and this place, 
through the blessing of Swayambhu, will become replete with 
villages, towns, and iirthas, and inhabitants of various and di- 
verse tribes." Having thus prophesied he thrice circumambulat- 
ed the lake and returned to his native country. The Bodhisatwa 
above alluded to is Manju Sri, whose native place is very far 
off, towards the north, and is called Pancha Sirsha Parvata, 
[which is situated in Maha China Des.*] One day in the Trita yuga, 
and immediately after the coming of Viswabhu Buddha to Naga 
Vasa, Manju Sri, meditating upon what was passing in the 
world, discovered by means of his divine science that Swayam- 
bhu-jyoti-rupa, that is, the . self-existent, in the form of flame, 
was revealed out of a lotos in the lake of Naga Vasa. Again, he 
reflected within himself : " Let me behold that sacred spot, and 
my name will long be celebrated in the world ; and on the instant, 
collecting together his disciples, comprising a multitude of the 

* The bracketed portions are from the commentators. 



166 



peasantry of the land, and a Raja named Dharmakar, he assum- 
ed the form of Viswakarma, and with his two Devis (wives.,) 
and the persons above-mentioned, set out upon the long journey 
from Sirsha Parbata to Naga Vasa. There having arrived, and 
having made puja to the self-existent, he began to circumambu- 
late the lake, beseeching all the while the aid of Swayambhu in 
prayer. In the second circuit, when he had reached the central 
barrier mountain on the south, he became satisfied that that was 
the best place whereat to draw off the waters of the lake. Im- 
mediately he struck the mountain with his scimitar, when the 
sundered rock gave passage to the waters, and the bottom of 
the lake became dry. He then descended from the mountain, and 
began to walk about the valley in all directions. As he approach- 
ed Guhyeswari,* he beheld the water bubbling up violently from 
the spot, and betook himself with pious zeal to the task of stop- 
ping it. No sooner had he commenced than the ebullition of the 
water became less violent, when, leaving bare only the flower 
of the lotos, the root of which was the abode of Guhyeswari, he 
erected a protecting structure of stone and brick over the recum- 
bent stalk, and called the structure, which rose into a consider- 
able elevation as it neared the flower of the lotos, Satya GirL 
This work completed, Manju Sri began to look about him in 
search of a fit place of residence, and at length constructed for 
that purpose a small hill, to which he gave the name of Manju 
Sri Parbata, (the western half of the little hill of Sambhu Nath,) 
and called the desiccated valley, Nepdld — Ne signifying the send- 
er (to paradise,) who is Swayambhu ; and pdla, cherished, imply- 
ing that the protecting genius of the valley was Swayambhu or 
Adi Buddha. Thus the valley got the name of Nepala : and, 
since very many persons had come from Mount Sirsha [or China] 

* The site of the temple is near the centre of the valley, on the skirts of the 
lovely grove of Pasupati ; and above 2| or 3 miles east from mount Sambhu. 
The fable says, that the root of the lotos of Guhyeswari was at the former place, 
and the flower at the latter ; the recumbent stalk being extended throughout 
the interval between them. Swayambhu or Am Buddha is supposed to re- 
side in the flower, in the form of flame; Prajana Paramita or Guhyeswari, 
in or at the root, in the form of water. 



167 



with Manju Sri, for the residence of Dharmakar Raja and his 
suite, Manju constructed a large place of abode, halfway between 
Mount Swayambhu and Guhyeswari, and named it after himself, 
Manja Pattana, and established therein Dharmakar [of Maha 
China,] as Raja, subjecting the whole of the inferior sort of people 
who came from Sirsha Parbata to Dharmakar' s rule, and pro- 
viding abodes for them in the city of Manja Pattana. 

Thus was Nepaul peopled : the first inhabitants of which came 
all from Mount Sirsha [which is in Maha China,] and thus the 
valley got the name of Nepala, and its inhabitants that of Nepali, 
[whose primitive language was Chinese.] [This language in 
course of time came to be much altered by the emigration of 
people from Madhya Desa, and by the necessary progress of corrup- 
tion and change in a new country, till a new language arose in 
Nepaul by the natural course of things. The primitive inhabitants 
of Nepaul were all of one caste, or had no caste. But their descend- 
ants, in the course of time, became divided into many castes, ac- 
cording to the trades and professions which they followed ; and of 
these, such as abandoned the world and shaved their heads, became 
Bhikshu, Sramana, Chaiiaka, and Arhana, and took up their abode 
in forests or in monasteries. The latter four orders are all ascetical ; 
and in strictness absolutely excluded from all worldly commerce. 
But should any of them, still retaining the custom of tonsure, be- 
come worldly men, such are called Sravaka, &c. to a great extent 
of diverse names.] Manju Sri, having by such deeds as these ac- 
quired the highest celebrity in Nepaul, ostensibly, and for the in- 
struction of the people, relinquished his mortal form, and became 
nirvdn; but, in truth, departed for Mount Sirsha with his two 
Devis, and in due course arrived at Pancha Sirsha Parbata. Some 
time after the disappearance of Manju Sri [in the Trita yuga] 
Karkut Sand Buddha came to Nepaul, with some Bhikshukas, 
Dharmapala Raja, and a multitude of the common people, from 
Kshemavatinagar, of Madhya D6sa. The beauty of the coun- 
try delighted him, and he remarked that in such a land the culti- 
vator must be sure to reap as he sowed. He paid his devotions 
to Swayambhu, and then launched out in praise of the merits of 



Manju Sri, the Nepaulese patriarch. Afterwards, he performed 
puja to Guhyeswari, and then ascended Sankhocha mountain (Siva 
Pdra:) the prospect of the valley from that mount filled him with 
fresh delight, and he again celebrated the excellence of the coun- 
try. Gunadhvaja, a brahman, and Abhayandada, a kshe- 
triya, and others of the four castes (chatur varana,) respectful 
followers of Kurkut Sand, here solicited at his hands the favour 
of being made Bhikshukas, in order that they might remain in 
this happy land, and by the worship of Swayambhu attain to high 
merit and honour. Kurkut cheerfully complied, and agreed to 
make a great many of the company Bhikshukas ; and since the 
mountain top afforded no water for that ceremony, he by his 
divine power caused a spring to issue from the rock, and with 
its waters gave to his followers the requisite Abhisheka or bap- 
tism. He called the river that originated with this spring Vang- 
mati ;* and then related to his followers both the past and future 
history of the valley watered by the Vangmati. Then, having 
left behind him at Nepaul, Raja Dharmapal and some Bhikshus 
and common folks, who had come with him, and desired to stay, 
Kurkut Sand departed with the rest of them to his native city 
of Kshemavati. These companions of Kurkut Sand, or Kra- 
kucchand, were the first natives of the plains of India (Madhya 
Desa) who remained in Nepaul. Many of them, addicting them- 
selves to the business of the world, became householders and the 
founders of several towns and villages in Nepaul ; whilst others, who 
adopted the ascetical profession, dwelt in the forests and Vihars. 
When these Madhyadesiyas had become numerous in Nepaul, they 
and their descendants were confounded with the former or north- 
ern colonists under the common appellation of Nepali and 
Newari ; being only separated and contradistinguished by the 
several trades and professions which they hereditarily practised. 
Thus, in the early ages, Nepaul had four classes of secular peo- 
ple, as Brahman, Kshetriya, Vaisya, and Sudra, and four asceti- 
cal classes, namely, Bhikshu, Sramana, Chailaka, and Arhanta, 
dwelling in forests and monasteries; and all were Buddk-mdrgi. 

* From Vach, speech. 



169 



Account of Dharmdkar Raja and Dharmapdl Raja. 

Dharmakar, the before noted Chinese prince ofNepaul, being 
disgusted with the world, abandoned his sovereign power, and 
placed Dharmapdl, the Raja of Gour-des, already mentioned, up- 
on his throne. Dharmapdl governed his subjects with perfect 
justice and clemency, and made puja at the Chaitya erected by 
Dharmakar, and regarded with equal favour his subjects that 
came from Mount Sirsha [or Maha China,] and those who emi- 
grated from Madhya-des. 

Account of Prachanda Deva. — Prachanda Deva, a Raja of 
Gour-d6s, (which is adjacent to Madhya-des,) and of the Kshe- 
triya tribe, was the wise man of his age and country. At length, 
being inspired with the ambition of becoming nirvan, he aban- 
doned his princely sway ; and taking with him a few sages, he 
began to wander over various countries, visting all the shrines 
and pilgrimages, and in the course of his peregrinations arrived 
at Nepaul. He was delighted with the beauty of the country, and 
having visited every tirtha, and pith, and devata, and having 
made puja to the Tri Ratna, or triad, he went to the temple of 
Swayambhu, and there performed his devotions. He then ascend- 
ed Manju Sri Parbat, and offered his prayers to Manju Sri, 
and finished by becoming a disciple of Gunakar Bhiksau, a fol- 
lower of Manju Sri. One day Prachanda Deva so delighted 
Gunakar with the display of his excellent qualities, that Guna- 
kar made him a Bhikshuka, and the said Raja Prachanda after 
becoming a Bhikshu obtained the titular appellation of Santa 
Sri. A great many brahmans and others who accompanied 
Prachanda to Nepaul received the tonsure, and became Bhikshus 
at the same time with Prachanda, and took up their abode in the 
monasteries of Nepaul. Some others of those that came with Pra- 
chanda to Nepaul preferring the pursuits of the world, continued 
to exercise them in Nepaul, where they also remained and became 
Buddhists. A third portion of Prachanda' s companions return- 
ed to Gour-des. After a time, Santa Sri represented to his 
Guru Gunakar his desire to protect the sacred flame of Swa- 
yambhu with a covering structure. Gunakar was charmed with 

V 



170 



the proposition and proposer, and having purified him with 13 
sprinklings of sacred water (trayodas abhiseka,) gave him the 
title of Dikshita Santikar Vajra Acharya. [From these transac- 
tions is dated the arrival of the people of Gour-des at Nepaul, and 
their becoming Buddhists.] 

Account of Kanaka Muni. — Once on a time, from Subhavati- 
nagar of Madhya-d6s, Kanaka Muni Buddha, with many 
disciples, some illustrious persons, and a countless multitude of 
common people, arrived at Nepaul, in the course of his religious 
peregrinations, and spent some months in the worship of Swayam- 
bhu, and the Tri Ratna, and then departed with most of his at- 
tendants. A few remained at Nepaul, became Buddh-margi and 
worshippers of Swayambhu ; [and these too, like all the preced- 
ing, soon lost their name and character as Madhya-desiyas, and 
were blended with the Nepali or Newari race. 

Account of Kdshyapa Buddha. — Once on a time, in Mrigada- 
ba-vana, near Benares, Kashyapa Buddha was born. He visit- 
ed Nepaul in pilgrimage, and made his devotions to Sambhunath. 
[Most of the people who came with him staid in Nepaul, and soon 
became confounded with the aborigines.] 

Account of Sakya Sinha Buddha. — Some time after Kashya- 
pa's visit, in the beginning of Kali yuga,] on the shores of Gan- • 
ga Sagara, in the sthan of Kapila Muni, and city of Kapila-vas- 
ta, and reign of Sadhodana Raja, of the Sakya vansa, was born 
(as the son of that Raja) Sarvartha Siddha, who afterwards 
became a Buddha with the name of Sakya Sinha. Sakya, with 
1350 Bhikshukas, and the Raja of Benares, several counsellors of 
state, and a crowd of peasantry of that kingdom, set out on the 
pilgrimage to Nepaul. Having paid his devotions to the self-exis- 
tent, in the form of flame, he went to the Chaitya on Puchhagra 
Hill, and repeated to his disciples the past history of Nepaul, as 
well as its whole future history, with many praises of Manju Sri 
Bodhisatwa : he then observed, " In all the world are 24 Piths, 
and of all these that of Nepaul is the best." Having so said, he 
departed. His companions, who were of the Chatur varana, or 
four castes, [Brahman, Kshetriya, Vaisya, and Sudra,] and belong- 



171 



ed to the four orders, [Bhikshu, and Sramana, and Chailaka, and 
Arhanta,] being much pleased with Nepal-des continued to dwell 
in it ; [and in course of time were blended with the aboriginal 
Nepalis, and became divided into several castes, according to the 
avocations which they hereditarily pursued.] Some time after 
the date of the above transaction, Raja Gunakama Deva, prince 
of Cathmandu, a principal city of Nepaul, became the disciple 
of the above-mentioned Santikar VajraAcharya. Gun Kam De- 
va, with the aid derived from the divine merits of Santikar, 
brought the Nag Raja Karktjtaka out of the lake or tank of 
Adhar, and conveyed him to Santipur with much ceremony and 
many religious rites. The cause of this act was that for many 
previous years there had been a deficiency of rain, whereby the 
people had been grievously distressed with famine ; and its conse- 
quence was, an ample supply of rain, and the return of the usual 
fertility of the earth and plenty of food. 

Subsequently, Sri Narendra Deva became Raja of Bhagat- 
pattan, (or Bhatgaon ;) he was the disciple of Bandudatta A- 
charya, and brought Aryavalokiteswara (Padma Pani) from 
Putalakaparvat (in Assam) to the city of Lalita pattan in Nepaul. 
The reason of inviting this divinity to Nepaul was a drought of 12 
years' duration, and of the greatest severity. The measure was. 
attended with like happy results, as in the case of conveying the 
Nag Raja with so much honour to Santipur. 



No. IX. 

REMARKS ON AN INSCRIPTION IN THE RANJA AND TIBETAN 
(u'CHHEN) CHARACTERS, 

Taken from a Temple on the Confines of the Valley of NepauL 
(Printed from the Bengal Asiatic Journal, No. 40, A. D. 1835.) 
On the main road from the valley of Nepaul to Tibet, by the 
Eastern or Kuti Pass of the Hemachal, and about two miles be- 

V 2 



172 



yond the ridge of hills environing the valley, there stands a di- 
minutive stone chaitya, supported, as usual, by a wide, graduat- 
ed, basement. 

Upon the outer surface of the retaining walls of this basement 
are inscribed a variety of texts from the Bauddha Scriptures, and 
amongst others, the celebrated Shad-Akshari Mantra, Om Mani 
Padme Horn. This is an invocation of Padma Pani, the 4th 
Dhyani Bodhisatwa, and prsesens Divus of the Theistic school of 
Buddhists — with an accessary mention of their triad, under that 
symbolic, literal form which is common to them and to the Brah- 
manists.* It is not, however, my present purpose to dwell upon 
the real and full import of these words ; but to exhibit the in- 
scription itself, as an interesting specimen of the practical con- 
junction of those two varieties of the Devanagari letters which 
may be said to belong respectively and appropriately to the Sauga- 
tas of Nepaul and of Tibet. Not that both forms have not been 
long familiar to the Tibetans, but that they still consider, and call, 
that one foreign and Indian which the Nepaulese Bauddha Scrip- 
tures exhibit as the ordinary ecriture ; and which, though allowed 
by the Nepaulese to be Indian, and though most certainly deduce- 
able from the Devanagari standard, is not now, nor has been for 
ages, extant in any part of India. 

It is peculiarly Nepaulese ; and all the old Sanscrit works of the 
Bauddhas of Nepaul are written in this character, or, in the cog- 
nate style denominated Bhujin Mula — which latter, however, I do 
but incidentally name. I wish here to draw attention to the fact 
that that form of writing or system of letters called Lantza in 
Tibet, and there considered foreign and Indian, though no where 
extant in the plains of India, is the common vehicle of the Sanscrit 
language amongst the Bauddhas of Nepaul proper, by whom it is 
denominated Ranja, and written thus, in Devanagari TWT ; Ranja 
therefore, and not according to a barbarian metamorphosis Lant- 
za, it should be called by us ; and, by way of further and clearer 

* Viz. th_e triliteral syllable Om, composed of the letters A, U, and M, typifi- 
ing, with the Brahmanists, Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa— but with the Bud- 
dhists, Buddha, Dharma, and Sanga. 



173 



distinction, the Nepaulese variety of Devanagari. Obviously deduci- 
able as this form is, from the Indian standard, and still enshrin- 
ed as it is in numerous Sanscrit works, it is an interesting cir- 
cumstance to observe it, in practical collocation with the ordinary 
Tibetan form — likewise, undoubtedly Indian, but far less easily 
traceable to its source in the Devanagari alphabet, and devoted 
to the expression of a language radically different from Sanscrit. 
Nor when it is considered that Ranja is the common extant vehi- 
cle of those original Sanscrit works of which the Tibetan books are 
translations, will the interest of an inscription, traced on one slab 
in both characters, be denied to be considerable. Singular indica- 
tions, indeed, are these of that gradual process of transplantation, 
whereby a large portion of Indian literature was naturalized be- 
yond the Himalaya, as well as of the gradual eradication of that 
literature from the soil of its birth, where, for four centuries proba- 
bly, the very memory of it has passed away !* Those who are 
engaged at present in decyphering ancient inscriptions would do 
well, I conceive, to essay the tracing, through Ranja and Bhujin 
Mula,f of the transmutation of Devanagari into the Tibetan al- 
phabet. In conclusion, I may observe, that this habit of promul- 
gating the mantras of their faith, by inscriptions patent on the 
face of religious edifices, is peculiar to the Tibetan Buddhists, 
those of Nepaul considering it a high crime thus to subject them 
to vulgar, and perchance uninitiated utterance. 

The Tibetan sentiment and practice are, in this respect, both the 
more orthodox and the more rational. But in another important 
respect, the Nepaulese followers of Buddha are far more rational at 
least, if far less orthodox, than their neighbours : for they have ut- 
terly rejected that absurd and mischievous adherence to religious 
mendicancy and monachism which still distinguishes the Tibe- 
tans.:]: 

* The very names of the numerous Sanscrit Buddha works recently discover- 
ed in Nepaul were totally unknown to the Pandits of the plains, who received 
the announcement of the discovery with absolute disbelief, 

f All the four systems of letters are given in the 16th volume of the Asiatic 
Researches, 

\ The curious may like to know that Tibetan Buddhism is distinguished 

from 



174 



I need hardly add, after what has been just stated, that the 
circumstance of the inscriptions being mantras proves the temple 
or chaitya, adverted to, to be the work of Tibetans, though exist- 
ing on the very confines of Xepaul proper — a fact indeed which, 
on the spot, wants no such confirmation. It is notorious ; and is 
referrible to times when Tibetan influence was predominant on 
this side of the Himalaya. The great temple oiKhdsa chit, stand- 
ing in the midst of the valley of Xepaul, is still exclusively ap- 
propriated by the Trans-Himalayans. 

Note. — So much has been published on the subject of the mys- 
tical mantra above alluded to, that it is unnecessary to do more 
than direct the attention of the reader to the learned disserta- 
tion by Georgi in the Alphabetum Tibetanum, page 500, &c. 
and to a more recent elucidation of the same subject in Rlaproth's 
Fragmens Bouddhiques in the Joirrn. Asiatique, Mars, 1831, p. 27. 
— The mantra is quite unknown to the Buddhists of Ceylon and 
the Eastern Peninsula, and it forms a peculiar feature of the Tibe- 
tan Buddhism, shewing its adoption of much of the Brahmanical 
mystic philosophy. A wooden block, cut in Tibet for printing the 
very passage in the two characters, and from its appearance of some 
antiquity, is deposited in the museum of the Asiatic Society. — 
Ed. 



Note. — M. Rlaproth, in his memoir in the Xouveau Journal 
Asiatique, where he has brought so much of the erudition of 
Eastern and Central Asia to bear upon tins Buddhist formulary, 
attaches himself to two versions principally, as preferable to all 
that he finds elsewhere among Tibetans, Mongolians, and Chi- 
nese. The former is, "Oh precieux Lotus! Amen," od the suppo- 
sition of ^riirfw T^T ^ being the true reading ; but if it be read, 

from Xepaulese, solely by the two features above pointed out— unle? s we must add 
a qualified subjection on the part of the Saugatas of Xepaul to caste, from which 
the Tibetans are free ; but which in Xepaul is a merely popular usage stript of 
the sanction of religion, and altogether a very different thing from caste, pro- 
perly so called. 



175 



as he justly prefers, %t ^fw 1 ?^? S£ " Oh! le joyau est dans le 
Lotus. Amen." 

There is no objection to the former translation, that of " Om 
manipadma hum :" for the two nouns cannot be read as separate 
vocatives, " Oh jewel ! Oh Lotus !" (as M. Csoma de Koros in- 
forms us it is understood in Tibet,) without reading mane *pif in- 
stead of irfV. 

The latter translation of " Om manipadme hum!'' is not equally ad- 
missible : for it would require indispensably by grammatical rule, 
either the insertion of a Visarga after mani, or the substitution of 
a long i for the short one, so distinctly marked in the inscription ; i.e. 
the nominative TrfrO"'. or Trwt instead of the crude form ^rfro". The 
junction of the two nouns in one compound is therefore as neces- 
sary in the reading of the locative case, as in that of the voca- 
tive ; and this makes it necessary to translate it thus : " AUM (i. e. 
the mystic triform divinity) is in the jewel-like Lotus. Amen." 
The legend cited by M. Klaproth respecting Buddha apply as 
well to this version of the formulary as to his. I hope that Mr. 
Hodgson may hereafter favour us with the import of these words, 
as explained in the yet unexplored treasures of Sanscrit Buddhist 
literature in Nepaul." — W. H. M. 

Note. — In reply to the query of my annotator, I beg to say, 
that the true sense of the mantra is, ' The mystic triform Deity is 
in him of the Jewel and the Lotos' id est, in Padma Pani, the 
fourth Dhyani Bodhisatwa, but lord of the ascendant at present, 
and therefore associated with Buddha and Dharma as the third 
person of the Triad ; for this muntra is one of three, addressed 
to the three persons. 



176 



No. X. 

ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO THE RUINS OF SIMROUN, ONCE THE 
CAPITAL OF THE MITHLLA PROVINCE. 

\In a letter to the Editor. ~\ 
(Printed from the Bengal Asiatic Journal, No. 39, A. D, 1835.) 

I trust that the drawings and inscriptions lately sent you from 
Bakra, Mathiah, Radhiah, and Kesariah, will serve to draw atten- 
tion towards the remains of Buddhist science and power still ex- 
tant in this direction — the Mithila, or Maithila Desa of the Sastras, 
and North Bihar of the Moghuls. But it is not merely on the 
British side of the boundary that these astonishing traces of anci- 
ent civilization exist ; for, in the Nepaulese Tarai, also within a few 
miles of the hills, where now (or recently) the tiger, wild boar, 
and wild buffalo usurp the soil, and a deadly malaria infects the 
atmosphere for three-fourths of the year, similar vestiges are to 
be found. The Nepaulese Tarai is synominous amongst Europeans 
with pestilential jungle. It was in the halls of Janakpur, however, 
that the youthful Rama sought a bride: it was from the battle- 
ments of Simroun that the last of the Deva dynasty defied so long 
the imperial arms of Toglak Shah ! 

But the ruins of Janakpur and of Simroun still exist in the Ne- 
paulese low-lands : and he who would form a just idea of what the 
Hindoos of Mithila achieved prior to the advent of the Moslems 
must bend his pilgrim steps from the columns of Radhiah and of 
Mathiah, in the British territories, to the last but still astonish- 
ing vestiges of the cities of Kings Janaka and Nanyupa, in 
those of Nepaul. 

Of the Nepaulese Tarai it might justly be said, until very 
lately, 

* A goodly place it was in days of yore, 

But something ails it now : the place is cursed,' 

Five centuries of incessant struggle between Moslem bigotry and 



177 



Hindoo retaliation had indeed stricken this border land with the 
double curse of waste and pestilence. Nature, as it were, in very 
scorn of the vile passions of man, having turned the matchless 
luxuriance of the soil and climate into the means of debarring 
his future access! Such was the Nepaulese Tarai until 1816. But 
since that period the peace and alliance existing between the two ef- 
ficient Governments of the hills and the plains have given security 
to the borderers, and man is now fast resuming his ancient tenure 
of this fertile region. Still, however, there is little temptation or 
opportunity for Europeans to enter it ; and as chance recently con- 
ducted me past the ruins of Simroun, I purpose to give you a hasty 
sketch of what I saw and heard : because these ruins are evident- 
ly disjecta membra of the same magnificent body to which the 
mausoleum of Kesariah, and the solitary columns of Mathiah, of 
Radhiah, and of Bakhra belong. About 15 miles from the base 
of the hills, and at a nearly equal distance from the Bagmatty^. 
south of the former, and west of the latter, stand the remains of 
Simroun, in the Nepaulese district of Rotahat, and opposite to the 
Champarun division of the British zillah of Sarun. 

The boundary of Nepaul and of our territories confines the ruins 
to the south, and the Jamuni Nadi to the west. On the immediate 
east lies the village of Kachorwa, and on the north, that of Bhag- 
wanpur, both belonging to Nepaul. Here, in the midst of a dense- 
jungle, 12 miles probably in circuit, rife with malaria, and abound- 
ing in tigers, wild boar, and spotted axis, are secluded these 
wonderful traces of the olden time. The country around is well 
cultivated now? both on our and the Nepaulese side, but no one 
presumes to disturb the slumber of the genius of Simroun ; 
superstition broods over the tainted atmosphere ; and the venge- 
ance of Kali is announced to the rash peasant who would dare to 
ply an axe, or urge a plough, within her appropriately desolate do- 
main. It was only with difficulty that my elephants could make 
their way through the jungle; and when I had reached a central 
position, and ascended an elevation of some 25 feet, composed of 
the debris of the palace, nothing but a wilderness met my eye. Yet 
It is barely 500 years since Simroun was a pakka, fortified city,. 

W 



178 



the pride and the defence of Mithila ! After the war with Nepaul, 
Lieutenant Boeleau, I think, surveyed these ruins, and drew up a 
plan of them. What is become of it, I know not ; and regret 
that my own opportunity of research was limited to one hasty vi- 
sit. In this, however, I traced the northern wall, in all its ex- 
tent : measured the dimensions of the great Pokra or reservoir 
called Isra; and clambered to the top of what were once the cita- 
del and the Rani-bas or Mahal Sarai. On my return I had much 
conversation with an intelligent Brahman of Bhagwanpur, who 
told me that in April and May, when the jungle is at its barest 
state, the form and extent of the city may be distinctly traced. 
From his communications, and from my own observations, I gather 
that the form of the city is a parallelogram, surrounded by an 
outer and an inner wall, the former of unburnt, the latter of burnt, 
brick — the one having a compass of seven cos, and the other, of 
about five cos. 

On the eastern side, six or seven wet ditches may still be trac- 
ed, outside the pakka wall, and three or four on the western 
side. The Isra reservoir or tank is still perfect. It is 333 paces 
along each greater, and 210 along each shorter, face ; and its con- 
taining walls or sides consist of the finest burnt bricks, each of 
which is a cubit square, and nearly a maund in weight. 50 to 60 
yards of causeway, constructed of similar bricks or tiles, are yet 
entire in the neighbourhood of the palace; and vestiges of the same 
causeway, traceable at other points, indicate that all the streets of 
the city were of this careful and expensive structure. The re- 
mains of the palace, of the citadel, and of the temple of the tutela- 
ry goddess, exhibit finely carved stone basements, with superstruc- 
tures of the same beautifully moulded and polished bricks for 
which the temples and places of the valley of Nepaul are so justly 
celebrated. I measured some of the basement stones, and found 
them each 5 feet long by 1^ broad and deep : and yet these blocks 
must have been brought from a distance of 25 miles at least, and 
over the lesser range of hills ; for, till you come to the second or 
mountainous and rocky range, no such material is to be had. 

Some twenty idols, extricated from the ruins by the pious la- 



179 



hour of a Gosain, are made of stone, and are superior in sculpture 
to modern specimens of the art. Many of them are much muti- 
lated ; and of those which are perfect, I had only time to observe 
that they bore the ordinary attributes of Puranic Brahmanism. 
Not a single inscription has yet been discovered : but wherefore 
speak of discovery where there has been no search ? I noticed 
four or five pakka wells round, and each having a breast -work 
about three feet above the ground, similar precisely to the wells of 
this valley. 

What I have called the citadel is styled on the spot the Kotwdli 
Choutara, and my palace is the Rani-bas. The latter has a very 
central position. The Kotwali Choutara is in the northern quar- 
ter ; and the great tank, called Isra Pokra, is about J of a mile 
from the north-east corner of the city wall. As already mentioned, 
the last is still complete : the two former exist only as tumuli, some 
20 to 25 feet high ; and more or less coated with earth and trees. 

Hindu tradition, eked out by a couple of Sanscrit slokas, a copy 
of which I subjoin, asserts that Simroun was founded by Nanyupa 
Deva, A. D. 1097 ; that six* of the dynasty reigned there with 
great splendour ; and that the sixth, by name Hari Sinha Deva, 
was compelled to abandon his capital and kingdom, and take re- 
fuge in the hills A. D. 1322. The Moslem annals give 1323 for 
the date of the destruction of Simroun by Toglak Shah. Of the 
accuracy of the latter date there can be no doubt ; nor is the differ- 
ence between the Musalman and; Hindu chronology of the least 
moment. But, unless Nanyupa had more than five successors, we 
cannot place the foundation of Simroun higher than about 1200 
A. D. That is clearly too recent ; and, in fact, no part of the tra- 
dition can be trusted but that vouched by the memorial verses, 
which only give the date of destruction. 

Memorial verses of the founding and desertion of Simroun, 

* 1. Nanyupa. 2. Ganga. 3. Nara Sinha, 4. Kama Sinha. 5. Sakti Sinha. 
6. Hari Sinha, all with the cognomen Deva. 

W 2 



180 



The following is the substance of these memorial verses : 
'The wealth accumulated by Rajas Rama, Nala, Pururava, 
and Alarka, was preserved in a tank (that of Isra,) and guarded 
by a serpent. Nan yupa Deva destroyed the serpent ; appropriat- 
ed the wealth ; and built (Simroun) Garh with it. (His descend- 
ant) Hari Sinha, compelled by cruel fate, abandoned his beauti- 
ful city, and went to the hills in the year of the Saka 1245.' 

The kingdom of the Deva dynasty in the plains expired with 
the destruction or desertion of Simroun. It extended from the 
Kosi to the Gandak, and from the Ganges to the hills of Nepaul: at 
least, such were its limits in the days of its greatest splendour, 
when consequently it embraced all the several localities from 
which I have recently forwarded to you such signal memorials of 
Hindu power and science. 



No. XL 

NOTE ON THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE OF THE BUDDHIST WRITINGS, 

To the Editor, Journal Asiatic Society. 
(Printed from the Bengal Asiatic Journal, No. 68, A. D. 1837.) 

I have read article II. of the 66th No. of your Journal with 
great interest. With regard to the language in which the religion 
of Sakya, ' was preached and spread among the people,' I per- 
ceive nothing opposed to my own opinions in the fact that that 
language was the vernacular. 

There is merely in your case, as priorly in that of Mr. Turnour, 
some misapprehension of the sense in which I spoke to that point. 

The preaching and spreading of the religion is a very different 
thing from the elaboration of those speculative principles from 



18] 



which the religion was deduced. In the one case, the appeal 
would be to the many ; in the other, to the few. And whilst I 
am satisfied that the Buddhists as practical reformers addressed 
themselves to the people, and as propagandists used the vulgar 
tongue, I think that those philosophical dogmata which formed 
the basis of the popular creed, were enounced, defended and sys- 
tematised in Sanskrit. I never alleged that the Buddhists had es- 
chewed the Prakrits : I only denied the allegation that they had 
eschewed the Sanskrit ; and I endeavoured, at the same time, to 
reconcile their use of both, by drawing a distinction between the 
means employed by their philosophers to establish the principles 
of this religion, and the means employed by their missionaries to 
propagate the religion itself. 

Joinville had argued that Buddhism was an original creed, 
older than Brahmanism, because of the grossness of its leading 
tenets which savour so much of i flat atheism/ 

I answered that Buddhism was an innovation on the existing 
creed, and that all the peculiarities of the religion of Sakya could 
be best and only explained by advertence to shameful prior abuse 
of the religious sanction, whence arose the characteristic Bauddha 
aversion to gods and priests, and that enthusiastic self-reliance 
taught by Buddhism in express .opposition to the servile extant 
reference of all things to heavenly and earthly mediation. Jones, 
again, had argued that the Buddhists used only the Prakrit be- 
cause the books of Ceylon and Ava, (the only ones then forth- 
coming,*) were solely in that language or dialect. I answered by 
producing a whole library of Sanskrit works in which the princi- 
ples of Buddhism are more fully expounded than in all the le- 
gendary tomes of Ceylon and Ava ; I answered, further, by point- 
ing to the abstruse philosophy of Buddhism, to the admitted pre- 
eminence, as scholars, of its expounders ; and to their location 
in the most central and literary part of India {Behar and Oude). 

* Sir W. Jones had, however, in his possession a Sanskrit copy of the Lallita 
Vistara, and had noticed the personification of Diva Natura under the style of 
Arya Tara. 



182 



With the Sanskrit at command, I asked and ask again, why men 
so placed and gifted, and having to defend their principles in the 
schools against ripe scholars from all parts of India (for those 
were days of high debate and of perpetual formal disputation in 
palaces and in cloisters) should be supposed to have resorted to 
a limited and feebler organ when they had the universal and more 
powerful one equally available ? The presumption that they did 
not thus postpone Sanskrit to Prakrit is, in my judgment, worth 
a score of any inferences deduceable from monumental slabs, back- 
ed as this presumption is by the Sanscrit records of Buddhism 
discovered here. Those records came direct from the proximate 
head quarters of Buddhism. And, if the principles of this creed 
were not expounded and systematised in the schools of India in 
Sanskrit, what are we to make of the Nepaulese originals and of 
the avowed Tibetan translations? In my judgment the extent anA 
character of these works settle the question that the philosophic 
founders of Buddhism used Sanskrit and Sanskrit only, to ex- 
pound, defend and record the speculative principles of their sys- 
tem, principles without which the vulgar creed would be (for us,) 
mere leather and prunella ! Nor is this opinion in the least oppos- 
ed to your notion (mine too) that the practical system of belief, 
deduced from those principles, was spread among the people of 
the spot as well as propagated to remoter spots by means of the 
vernacular. 

It is admitted that Buddhism was long taught in Ceylon with- 
out the aid of books : and that the first book reached that island 
nearly 300 years after the introduction of the creed. 

Here is a distinct admission of what I long since inferred from 
the general character of the religion of Sakya in that island, viz. 
the protracted total want, and ultimate imperfect supply, of those 
standard written authorities of the sect which regulated belief and 
practice in Magadha, in Kosala and Bajagriha, — in a word, in the 
Metropolis of Buddhism. From this metropolis the authorities in 
question were transferred directly and immediately to the proximate 
hills of Nepaul, where and where only, I believe, they are now to be 
found. If not translations, the books of Ceylon have all the ap- 



183 



pearanee of being ritual collectanea, legendary hearsays, and loose 
comments on received texts — all which would naturally be writ- 
ten in the vulgar tongue.* To these, however, we must add some 
very important historical annals, detailing the spread and diffu- 
sion of Buddhism. Similar annals are yet found in Tibet, but, as 
far as I know not in Nepaul, for what reason it is difficult to di- 
vine. 

But these annals, however valuable to us, for historical uses, 
are not the original written standard of faith ; and until I see 
the Prajna Pdramita and the nine Dharmas\ produced from 
Ceylon, I must continue of the opinion that the Buddhists of that 
island drew their faith from secondary, not primary sources ; and 
that whilst the former were in Ceylon as elsewhere, vernacular ; 
the latter were in Magadha and. Kosala, as they are still in Ne- 
paul, classical or Sanskrit ! 

Certainly Buddhism, considered in the practical view of a reli- 
gious system, always appealed to the common sense and interest 
of the many, inscribing its most sacred texts (Sanskrit and Pra- 
krit) on temple walls and on pillars, placed in market, high-road 
and cross-road. 

This material fact (so opposite to the genius of Brahmanism,) I 
long since called attention to ; and thence argued that the inscrip- 
tions on the lats would be probably found to be scriptural texts ! 

The tendency of your researches to prove that the elaborate 
forms of the Deva Nagari were constructed from simpler elements, 
more or less appropriated to the popular Bhashas, is very curious ; 
and seems to strengthen the opinion of those who hold Hindi to be 
indigenous, older than Sanskrit in India, and not (as Colebrooke 
supposed) deduced from Sanskrit. If Buddhism used these pri- 
mitive letters before the Deva Nagari existed, the date of this creed 

* Such works written in the vulgar tongue are common in Nepaul and fre- 
quently we have a Sanskrit text with a vernacular running commentary. 

f They have one of the 9, viz. the Lallita Vistara ; but M. B ur no uf assures 
me, in a miserably corrupted state. Now, as tbis work is forthcoming in a fault- 
less state in Sanskrit, I say the Pali version must be a translation. (Await Mr. 
Turnour's extracts and translations before pronouncing judgment. — Ed.) 



154 

would seem to be thrown back to a remote sera, or, the Sanskrit 
letters and language must be comparatively recent. 

I can trace something very like Buddhism, into far ages and 
realms : but I am sure that that Buddhism which has come down 
to us in the Sanskrit, Pali and Tibetan books of the sect, and 
which only therefore we do or can know, is neither old nor exotic. 
That Buddhism (the doctrines of the so called seventh Buddha) 
arose in the middle of India in comparatively recent times, and 
expressly out of those prior abominations which had long held 
the people of India in cruel vassalage to a bloated priesthood. 

The race of Sdka, or progenitors of Sdkya Sinha (by the way,, 
the Sinha proves that the princely style was given to him until he 
assumed the ascetic habit) may have been Scythians or Northmen, 
in one sense ; and so probably were the Brahmans in that same 
sense, viz. with reference to their original seat. (Brachmanes 
nomen gentis diffusissimee, cujus maxima pars in montibus degit ; 
reliqui circa Gangem.) 

If one's purpose and object were to search backwards to the 
original hive of nations, one might, as in consistency one should, 
draw Brahmanism and Buddhism, Yya sa and Sakya, from Tar- 
tary. All 1 say is, that quoad the known and recorded man and 
thing — Sakya Sinha and his tenets — they are indisputably Indian 
and recent.* 

I incline to the opinion that Hindi may be older in India than 
Sanskrit, and independent, originally, of Sanskrit. But were 
this so, and were it also true that the Buddhists used the best 
dialect of Hindi (that however is saturated with Sanskrit, what- 
ever its primal independence) such admissions would rather 
strengthen than weaken the argument from language against the 
exotic origin of Buddhism.f 

* According to all Bauddha authorities the lineage of the whole seven mortal 
Buddhas is expressly stated to be Brahmanical or Kshetriya ! What is the answer 
to this ? 

f Our own distinguished Wilson has too easily followed the continental 
European writers in identifying the Saka vansa with the classical Sacee or 
Scythians, and Buddhism with Samanism. The Tartars of our day avow that 
they got all their knowledge from India; teste Kahgyur ct Stangyur. 



185 



According to this hypothesis, Hindi is not less, but more, Indian 
than Sanskrit : and, a fortiori, so is the religion assumed to have 
committed its records to Hindi. 

But, in very truth, the extant records- of Buddhism, whether 
Sanskrit or Prakrit, exhibit both languages in a high state of re- 
finement ; and though one or both tongues came originally from 
Tartary, they received that refinement in India, where, certainly, 
what we know as Buddhism, (by means of these records) had its 
origin, long after Brahmanism had flourished there in all its mis- 
chievous might. 

P. S. You will, I hope, excuse my having adverted to some 
other controverted topics besides that which your paper immedi- 
ately suggested. These questions are, a good deal, linked toge- 
ther: for instance, if Buddhism furnishes internal evidence through- 
out its most authentic records that it is the express antithesis of 
Brahmanism, its posteriority of date to the latter is decided, as 
well as its jealousy of priestly pretensions. Nec clericis infinita aut 
libera potestas, is a, deduction which only very precise and weighty 
evidence will suffice to set aside : I have seen none such yet from 
Ceylon or from Ava. And be it observed, I here advert to au- 
thentic scriptural tenets, and not to popular corruptions resulting 
from the facile confusion of the ascetic with the clerical profession. 



Note. We are by no means prepared to enter into a controversy 
on a subject on which we profess but a slight and accidental ac- 
quaintance : nor will we arrogate to ourselves the distinction of 
having entered the lists already occupied by such champions as 
Mr. Hodgson and Mr. Turnour, who have both very strong ar- 
guments to bring forward, in support of their opposite views. As 
far as the Dharmalipi could be taken as evidence the vernacular- 
ists had the right to it ; but on the other hand there can be no 
doubt, as Mr. Hodgson says, that all scholastic disputation with 
the existing Brahmanical schools which Sakya personally visited 
and overcame, must have been conducted in the classical language. 
The only question is, whether any of these early disquisitions have 

X 



186 



been preserved, and whether, for example, J;he Life of Sakya, 
called the Lalita Vistdra, found by Professor Wilson to agree 
verbatim with the Tibetan translate examined simultaneously by 
Mr. Csoma, has a greater antiquity than the Pitakattayan of Cey- 
lon? We happen fortuitously to have received at this moment 
two letters bearing upon the point in dispute from which we gladly 
avail ourselves of an extract or two : — Mr. Turnour, alluding to 
the notice of the life of Sakya from the Tibetan authorities by Mr. 
Csoma in the As. Res. vol. xx. writes — " The Tibetan life is appa- 
rently a very meagre performance, containing scarcely any thing va- 
luable in the department of history ; whereas had the materials 
whence it was taken been genuine, the translator would have been 
able to bring forward and illustrate much valuable information on 
the pilgrimages and the acts of Sakya in various parts of India dur- 
ing the 45 years he was Buddha. Even the superstitious facts re- 
corded are much more absurd than they are represented in the 
Pitakattayan. Thus the dream of Maya Devi of having been rub- 
bed by a Chhadanta elephant, during her pregnancy, — is converted 
into a matter of fact, of Sakya, ' in the form of an elephant hav- 
ing entered by the right side into the womb or cavity of the bo- 
dy of Maya Devi !' 6 Chhadanta 1 is taken literally as a six- 
tusked elephant, whereas by our books Chhadanta is the name of 
a lake beyond the Himalaya mountains where the elephants are 
of a superior breed. It is mentioned twice in the Mahawanso 
(Chaps. 5 and 22)." 

If the rationality of a story be a fair test of its genuineness, 
which few will deny, the Pali record will here bear away the 
palm : — but it is much to be regretted that we have not a complete 
translation of the Sanskrit and of the Ceylonese "life" to place side 
by side. It is impossible that instruction should not be gained by 
such an impartial examination.* But to return to the subject 

* As an example of the information already obtained from Sir. Csoma's 
translated sketch, we may adduce the origin of the custom seemingly so uni- 
versal among the Buddhists of preserving pictorial or sculptured representations 
of the facts of his life. — After his death the priests and minister at Eajagriha 
are afraid of telling the king Ajata Satru thereof lest he should faint from 

the 



187 



under discussion ; my friend Mr. Csoma writes from Titalya in 
the Purniya district : — 

" In reference to your and Mr. Turnour's opinion that the 
original records of the Buddhists in ancient India, were written 
in the Mdgadhi dialect, I beg leave to add in support of it, that 
in the index or register (^IX/db^l dkar-chhag) of the Kah- 
gyur, it is stated that the Sutras in general — i. e. all the works in 
the Kahgyur except the 21 volumes of the Sher-chhin and the 
22 volumes of the vGynd §^ class., after the death of Shaky a, 
were first written in the Sindhu language and the Sher-chhin and 
r Gyud in the Sanskrit : but part of the r Gyud also in several 
other corrupt dialects. It is probable that in the seventh century 
and afterwards, the ancient Buddhistic religion was remodelled 
and generally written in Sanskrit, before the Tibetans commenced 
its introduction by translation into their own country." 

This explanation, so simple and so authentic, ought to set the 
matter at rest, and that in the manner that the advocates of ei- 
ther view should most desire, for it shews that both are right ! 
— It is generally allowed that the Pali and the Zend are deriva- 
tives of nearly the same grade from the Sanskrit stock ; and the 
modern dialect of Sinde as well as the Bhdshd of upper and west- 
ern India present more striking analogies to the Pali, in the re- 

the shock, and it is suggested by Maha'kashyapa by way of breaking the in- 
telligence to him, that the Mahamantra or chief priest should " go speedily 
into the king's garden, and cause to be represented in painting, how Chom- 
dandas (Bhagavan) was in Tushita : how in the shape of an elephant he en- 
tered his mother's womb : how at the foot of the holy fig-tree he attained 
supreme perfection : how at Varanasi he turned the wheel of the law of twelve 
kinds, (taught his doctrines :)— how he at Sravasti displayed great mira- 
cles; — how at the city of Ghachen he descended from the Tray a Strinsha 
heaven, whither he had gone to instruct his mother : — and lastly, how having 
accomplished his acts in civilizing and instructing men in his doctrine at seve- 
ral places, he went to his last repose in the city of Kasha in Assam." Now 
whether the book in question was written sooner or later, it explains the prac- 
tice equally and teaches us how we may successfully analyze the events depict- 
ed in the drawings of Adjanta, perchance, or the sculptures of Bhilsa, with a 
full volume of the life of Shaky a in our hand. Similar paintings are common 
in Ava, and an amusing, but rather aprocryphal, series may be seen in Upham's 
folio history of Buddhism. 

X 2 



188 



moval particularly of the r, and the modification of the auxiliary 
verbs, than any of the dialects of Bengal, Behar, or Ceylon** 
Plausible grounds for the existence of this western dialect in the 
heart of Magadha, and the preference given it in writings of the 
period, may be found in the origin of the ruling dynasty of that 
province, which had confessedly proceeded from the north-west. 
At any rate those of the Salty a race, which had emigrated from 
iSinde to Kapila vastu (somewhere in the Gangetic valley) may 
have preserved the idiom of this native province and have caused 
it to prevail along with the religion which was promulgated 
through its means. 

We are by no means of opinion that the Hindi, Sindhi, or Pali 
had an independent origin prior to the Sanskrit. The more the 
first of these, which is the most modern form and the farthest re- 
moved from the classical language, is examined and analyzed, the 
more evidently is its modification and corruption from the ancient 
stock found to follow systematic rules, and to evince rather pro- 
vincial dialectism (if I may use the word) than the mere engraft- 
ment of foreign words upon a pre-existent and written language. 
The aboriginal terms of Indian speech must be rather sought in 
the hills and in the peninsula ; in the plains and populous districts 
of the north the evidences of their existence are necessarily smo- 
thered by the predominance of the refined and durable languages 
of the court, of religion, and of the educated classes. A writer in 
the Foreign Quarterly has lately been bold enough to revive the 
theory of Sanskrit being merely a derivative from the Greek 
through the intervention of the Zend, and subsequent to the 
Macedonian invasion ! The Agathocles' coin ought to answer all 
such speculations. The Pall of that day along with its appropri- 
ate symbols is proved to have held the same precise derivative re- 
lation to the Sanskrit as it does now — for the records on which we 
argue are not modern, but of that very period. All we still want 
is to find some graven Brahmanical record of the same period 
to shew the character then in use for writing Sanskrit ; and to 

* See the Rev. Dr. Mill's note on this subject in the Jour. Asiat. Soc. vol. v. 
p. 30 ; also Professor Wilson's remarks, vol. i. page 8. 



189 



add ocular demonstration to the proofs afforded by the profound 
researches of philologists as to the genuine antiquity of the vener- 
able depository of the Vedas.— Ed. 



No. XII. 

(Printed from the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.) 
EXTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 

January r , 1836. 

The Secretary then read the following letter addressed to him 
by Brian Houghton Hodgson, Esq. the Hon. East India Com- 
pany's Political Resident in Nepaul: — 

" Nepaul, April 2d, 1835. 

" My dear Sir,— Through Dr. Wallich I have recently had 
the honour to transmit to you a copy of the Sata Sahasrika Praj- 
na Paramita, or Raksha Bhagavati, as it is more commonly call- 
ed here ; and, in the course of the year, I trust to be enabled to 
send to you copies of the nine works denominated the Nava 
Dharma. They will be followed by despatches of the other Pau- 
ranika and Tantrika books of the Saugatas, of which the names 
are enumerated in my Sketch of Buddhism. 

" It is my hope and my ambition to be able to deposit in your 
archives a complete series of these original Sanskrit depositories 
of Bauddha philosophy and religion; in the conviction that in 
them only can be traced with success the true features of a sys- 
tem which is far too subtle and complex to be apprehended 
through the medium of such languages as those of the Tibetans 
and Mongolians ; — and which system demands our best attention, 
not less on account of its having divided with Brahmanism the 
empire of opinion for ages, within the limits of India proper, than 
for its unparalleled extension beyond those limits in more recent 
times, and up to the present day. It is probable, that, during four 
or five centuries at least, Buddhism was as influential within the 



190 



bounds of the continent of India as Brahmanism ; and, it is cer- 
tain, that the period of its greatest influence there was synchro- 
nous with the brightest era of the intellectual culture of that con- 
tinent. The Brahmans themselves attest, again and again, the 
philosophical acumen and literary abilities of their detested ri- 
vals ; and, upon the whole, I fancy it can hardly be too much to 
assert, that, until the speculations and arguments of Sdkya, and 
his successors, are as well known to us as those of Vydsa and his, 
we must remain, with respect to the knowledge of the Indian phi- 
losophy of mind, and its collateral topics, pretty much in the con- 
dition which we should be in, with regard to the same sciences in 
Europe, were the records of Protestant sagacity obliterated, and 
those of Catholic ingenuity alone left us to judge of and decide 

by. 

" As to the importance of a knowledge of the speculative tenets 
of Buddhism, with a view to complete the history of Indian philo- 
sophy and intellectual culture, there may be some difference of 
opinion ; but there can be none respecting the desirableness of 
drawing from original and adequate sources our notions of that 
existing system of faith which, for the number of its followers, 
surpasses every religion on the face of the earth. Not to men- 
tion that the researches of every year furnish us with fresh pre- 
sumptions in favour of the former prevalence of Buddhism in 
wide regions where it is now superseded by Islamism, or by 
Christianity. The works which it is my purpose to deposit co- 
pies of in the library of your Society, constitute such original and 
adequate sources of information respecting the Saugatas. They 
are all written in the Sanskrit language, are of vast extent, and 
embrace numerous treatises belonging to the Tdntrika, as well as 
the Paurdnika class. Till very recently, works of the former or- 
der were withheld from me, owing to religious scruples ; but I 
have, within the last year, procured several, am daily obtaining 
more, and am now of opinion, that nearly the whole contents of 
the immense Kahgyur and Stangyur collections of Tibet may yet 
be had in the original Sanskrit in Nepaul. Such being the case, 
I do not intend (unless the Society express a wish to that effect) 



191 



to continue the transmission of the Tibetan series ; nor to make 
any additions to those volumes of the Yum division of the Kah~ 
gyur, which were sent to you along with the Sata Sahasrika, in 
the original Sanskrit, because I am quite confident the Tibetan 
translations are infinitely inferior to the Sanskrit originals ; and 
because there are as yet no Tibetan scholars in Europe. 

" The general opinion amongst Europeans seems to be, that 
the Bauddha sages committed their doctrines to the Pali lan- 
guage rather than to the Sanskrit, — an opinion founded, as I 
presume, upon the fact, that the Buddhist works extant in Cey- 
lon are in the Pali, as well as those of the Indo-Chinese nations, 
so far as the latter are not avowed translations therefrom into the 
vernacular tongues. But before I can subscribe to the opinion 
adverted to, I must see Pali works produced, comparable in im- 
portance and number with the Sanskrit records of Buddhism that 
have been procured in Nepaul ; and, in the mean while, it appears 
to me most extraordinary that the philosophers of Ayodhya and 
of Magadha, the acknowledged founders of Buddhism, should be 
presumed by us to have postponed Sanskrit to Pali ; whilst, on 
the other hand, I can easily conceive, that as the new opinions 
spread into the remote Dekkan, and thence to Ceylon, their pro- 
pagators should have facilitated their operations by means of 
Pali translations. In a word, I believe the Sanskrit books of 
Nepaul are the only original treatises on Buddhism yet discover- 
ed by us, or now extant ; and I think I do not exaggerate the 
importance of those treatises when I say, that through them only 
shall we be enabled either to complete the history of Indian philo- 
sophy, or to elucidate the real nature of those religious doctrines 
which constitute the faith of the Indo-Chinese, Ceylonese, Tibe- 
tans, Mongolians ; as well as of the bulk of the Chinese, of the 
Japanese, of the various nations usually called Tartars ; and, last- 
ly, of the Himalayan mountaineers of India." 

B. H. Hodgson. 

To the Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society. 



192 



No. XT II. 

A DISPUTATION RESPECTING CASTE BY A BUDDHIST, 

In the form of a Series of Propositions supposed to be put by a 
Saiva and refuted by the Disputant. 

(Printed from the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. iii.) 
To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society. 

Sir, Nepaul Residency, July \\th f 1829. 

A few days since my learned old Bauddha friend brought me 
a little tract in Sanskrit, with such an evident air of pride and 
pleasure, that I immediately asked him what it contained. " Oh, 
my friend!" was his reply, " I have long been trying to procure 
for you this work, in the assurance that you must highly approve 
the wit and wisdom contained in it; and, after many applications 
to the owner, I have at length obtained the loan of it for three or 
four days. But I cannot let you have it, nor even a copy of it, 
such being the conditions on which I procured you a sight of it." 
These words of my old friend stimulated my curiosity, and with 
a few fair words I engaged the old gentleman to lend me and my 
pandit his aid in making a translation of it ; a task which we ac- 
complished within the limited period of my possession of the ori- 
ginal, although my pandit (a Brahman of Benares ) soon declined 
co-operation with us, full of indignation at the author and his work! 
Notwithstanding, however, the loss of the pandit's aid, I think I 
may venture to say that the translation gives a fair representation 
of the matter of the original, and is not altogether without some 
traces of its manner. 

It consists of a shrewd and argumentative attack, by a Baud- 
dha, upon the Brahmanical doctrine of caste : and what adds to its 
pungency is, that throughout, the truth of the Brahmanical writ- 



193 



ings is assumed, and that the author's proofs of the erroneous- 
ness of the doctrine of caste are all drawn from those writings. 
He possesses himself of the enemy's battery, and turns their own 
guns against them. To an English reader this circumstance 
gives a puerile character to a large portion of the Treatise, owing 
to the enormous absurdity of the data from which the author 
argues. His inferences, however, are almost always shrewdly 
drawn, and we must remember that not he but his antagonists 
must be answerable for the character of the data. To judge by the 
effect produced upon my Brahman pandit— & wise man in his ge- 
neration, and accustomed for the last four years to the examina - 
tion of Bauddha literature — by this little Treatise, it would seem 
that there is no method of assailing Brahmanism comparable to 
that of "judging it out of its own mouth :" and the resolution of 
the Committee of the Serampore College to make a thorough 
knowledge of Hindu learning the basis of the education of their 
destined young apostles of Christianity in India, would thence ap- 
pear to be most wise and politic : but to return to my little Treatise. 

We all know that the Brahmans scorn to consider the Sudras as 
of the same nature with themselves, in this respect resembling the 
bigoted Christians of the dark ages, who deemed in like manner 
of the Jews. The manner in which our author treats this part of 
his subject is, in my judgment, admirable, and altogether worthy 
of a European mind. Indeed it bears the closest resemblance to 
the style of argument used by Shakespeare ; in covertly assailing 
the analogous European prejudice already adverted to. I need 
not point more particularly to the glorious passage in the Mer- 
chant of Venice : " Hath not a Jew eyes, hands, organs, dimen- 
sions, senses, passions ; fed with the same food, hurt by the same 
diseases?" &c. &c. 

The Bauddha Treatise commences in the sober manner of a 
title page to a book ; but immediately after the author has announc- 
ed himself with due pomp, he rushes " in medias res 9 '\ and to the 
end of his work maintains the animated style of viva voce disputa- 
tion. Who Ashu Ghosha, the author, was. when he flourished and 
where, I cannot ascertain. All that is known of him at Nepaul 

Y 



W4 



is, that he was a Mciha pandit, or great sage, and wrote, besides 
the little Treatise now translated, two larger Bauddha works of 
high repute, the names of which are mentioned in a note.* 

I am, &c. 

B. H. Hodgson. 



I, Asttu Ghosha, first invoking Manja Ghosha, the Guru of 
the world, with all my soul and all my strength, proceed to com- 
pose the book called Vajra Suchi, in accordance with the Shas- 
tras (Hindu or Brahmanical Sasiras.) 

Allow then that your Vedas and Smrittis, and works involving 
both Dharma and Artha, are good and valid, and that discourses 
at variance with them are invalid, still what you say, that the 
Brahman is the highest of the four castes, cannot be proved from 
those books. 

Tell me, first of all, what is Brahmanhood ? Is it life, or pa- 
rentage, or body, or wisdom, or the way (dchdr,) or acts, i. e. 
morality (Karam,) or the Vedas ? 

If you say it is life (jiva,) such an assertion cannot be reconcil- 
ed with the Vedas ; for, it is written in the Vedas, that " the sun 
and the moon, Indra, and other deities, were at first quadrupeds ; 
and some other deities were first animals and afterwards became 
gods ; even the vilest of the vile ( Sivapah) have become gods." 
From these words it is clear that Brahmanhood is not life {jiva), 
a position which is further proved from these words of the 31a- 
habharata : " Seven hunters and ten deer, of the hill of Kalinjal, 
a goose of the lake Mansara vara, sand a, chakwa of Saradwipa, all these 
were born as Brahmans, in the Kurukshetra (near Dehli), and be- 
came very learned in the Vedas." It is also said by Manu, in his 
Dharma Sastra, " Whatever Brahman learned in the four Vedas, 
with their ang and upang, shall take charity from a Sudra, shall for 
twelve births be an ass, and for sixty births a hog, and seventy births 

* The Buddha Charitra Kavya, and the Nandi- Mukhasugftosha Avadan, 
and other works. 



195 

a dog." From these words it is clear that Brahmanhood is not life ; 
for, if it were, how could such things be ? 

If, again, you say that Brahmanhood depends on parentage or 
birth (jati) ; that is, that to be a Brahman one must be born of 
Brahman parents, — this notion is at variance with the known 
passage of the Smritti, that Achala Muni was born of an ele- 
phant, and Cesa Pingala of an owl, and Agastya Muni from 
the Agasti flower, and Cousika Muni from the Cusa grass, and 
Capila from a monkey, and Gautami Rishi from a creeper that 
entwined a Saul tree, and Drona Acharya from an earthen pot, 
and Taittiri Rishi from a partridge, and Parswa Rama from 
dust, and Sringa Rishi from a deer, and Vyasa Muni from a 
fisherwoman, and Koshika Muni from a female Sudra, and Viswa 
Mitra from a Chandalni, and Vasishtha Muni from a strum- 
pet. Not one of them had a Brahman mother, and yet all were 
notoriously called Brahmans ; whence I infer, that the title is a 
distinction of popular origin, and cannot be traced to parentage 
from written authorities. 

Should you again say, that whoever is born of a Brahman fa- 
ther or mother is a Brahman, then the child of a slave even may 
become a Brahman ; a consequence to which I have no objection, 
but which will not consort with your notions, I fancy. 

Do you say, that he who is sprang of Brahman parents is a 
Brahman ? Still I object that, since you must mean pure and true 
Brahmans, in such case the breed of Brahmans must be at an end ; 
since the fathers of the present race of Brahmans are not, any of 
them, free from the suspicion of having wives, who notoriously 
commit adultery with Sudras. Now, if the real father be a Su- 
dra, the son cannot be a Brahman, notwithstanding the Brahman- 
hood of his mother. From all which I infer, that Brahmanhood 
is not truly derivable from birth ; and I draw fresh proofs of this 
from the Manava Dharma, which affirms that the Brahman who 
eats flesh loses instantly his rank ; and also, that by selling wax, 
or salt, or milk, he becomes a Sudra in three days ; and further, 
that even such a Brahman as can fly like a bird, directly ceases 
to be a Brahman by meddling with the fleshp ots. 

Y 2 



196 



From all this is it not clear that Brahmanhood is not the same 
with birth : since, if that were the case, it could not be lost by 
any acts however degrading. Knew you ever of a flying horse 
that by alighting on earth was turned into a pig ? — 'Tis im- 
possible. 

Say you that body (Sarir) is the Brahman ? this too is false ; 
for, if body be the Brahman, then fire, when the Brahman's corpse 
is consumed by it, will be the murderer of a Brahman ; and such 
also will be every one of the Bramnan's relatives who consigned 
his body to the flames. Nor less will this other absurdity follow, 
that every one born of a Brahman, though his mother were a 
Kshatriya or Vaisya, would be a Brahman — being bone of the 
bone, and flesh of the flesh of his father : a monstrosity, you will 
allow, that was never heard of. Again, are not performing sacri- 
fice, and causing others to perform it, reading and causing to 
read, receiving and giving charity, and other holy acts, sprung 
from the body of the Brahman ? 

Is then the virtue of all these destroyed by the destruction of 
the body of a Brahman? Surely not, according to your own 
principles ; and, if not, then Brahmanhood cannot consist in 
body. 

Say you that wisdom* constitutes the Brahman ? This too is 
incorrect. Why ? Because, if it were true, many Sudras must 
have become Brahmans from the great wisdom they acquired. I 
myself know many Sudras who are masters of the four Vedas, 
and of philology, and of the Jlimcucsa, and Sanc'hya, and Vaishes- 
hika and Jyotishika philosophies ; yet not one of them is or ever 
was called a Brahman. It is clearly proved then, that Brahman- 
hood consists not in wisdom or learning. Then do you affirm 
that the Achdr is Brahmanhood ? This too is false ; for if it were 
true, many Sudras would become Brahmans ; since many Xats 
and Bhats, and Kaivertas, and Bhdads, and others, are every 
where to be seen performing the severest and most laborious acts 

* Perhaps it should rather be translated learning. The word in the original 
is jny ana. 



197 



of piety. Yet not one of these, who are all so pre-eminent in 
their Achdr, is ever called a Brahman : from which it is clear that 
Achdr does not constitute the Brahman. 

Say you that Karam makes the Brahman ? I answer, no ; for 
the argument used above applies here with even greater force,, al- 
together annihilating the notion that acts constitute the Brahman. 
Do you declare that by reading the Vedas a man becomes a Brah- 
man ? This is palpably false ; for it is notorious that the Rakshasa 
Ravan was deeply versed in all the four Vedas; and that, indeed, 
all the Rakshasas studied the Vedas in Ravan's time : yet you do 
not say that one of them thereby became a Brahman. It is there- 
fore proved that no one becomes a Brahman by reading the Ve- 
das. ' 

What then is this creature called a Brahman ? If neither read- 
ing the Vedas, nor Sanskar, nor parentage, nor race (Kula), nor acts 
(Karam), confers Brahmanhood, what does or can ? To my mind 
Brahmanhood is merely an immaculate quality, like the snowy 
whiteness of the Kundh flower. That which removes sin is Brah- 
manhood, It consists of Urdta, and Tapas, and Neyama, and 
Ripavas, and Dan, and Ddma, and Shdma, and Sanyama. It is 
written in the Vedas that the gods hold that man to be a Brah- 
man who is free from intemperance and egotism ; and from Sang a, 
and Parigraha, and Praga, and Dwesha. Moreover, it is writ- 
ten in all the Sastras that the signs of a Brahman are these, 
truth, penance, the command of the organs of sense, and mer- 
cy ; as those of a Chdndala are the vices opposed to those vir- 
tues. Another mark of the Brahman is a scrupulous abstinence 
from sexual commerce, whether he be born a god, or a man, or a 
beast. Yet further, Sukra Acharya has said, that the gods 
take no heed of caste, but deem him to be the Brahman who is a 
good man although he belong to the vilest. From all which I in- 
fer, that birth, and life, and body, and wisdom, and observance of 
religious rites (achdr), and acts (karam), are all of no avail to- 
wards becoming a Brahman. 

Then again, that opinion of your sect, that Pravrajaya is pro- 
hibited to the Sudra ; and that for him service and obedience paid 



198 

to Brahmans are instead of pravrajaya, — because, forsooth, in 
speaking of the four castes, the Sudra is mentioned last, and is 
therefore the vilest, — is absurd ; for, if it were correct, Indra 
would be made out to be the lowest and meanest of beings, Indr a. 
being mentioned in the Parni Sutra after the dog, thus — " Skua, 
Yua -Maghwa" In truth, the order in which they are mentioned 
or written, cannot affect the relative rank and dignity of the beings 
spoken of. 

What! is Parvati greater than Mahesa? or are the teeth 
superior in dignity to the lips, because we find the latter postpon- 
ed to the former, for the mere sake of euphony, in some grammar 
sentence ? Are the teeth older than the lips ; or does your creed 
teach you to postpone Siva to his spouse ? No ; nor any more is 
it true that the Sudra is vile, and the Brahman high and mighty, 
because we are used to repeat the Chatur Vardna in a particular 
order. And if this proposition be untenable, your deduction from 
it, viz. that the vile Sudra must be content to regard his service 
and obedience to Brahmans as his only pravrajaya, falls likewise 
to the ground. 

Know further, that it is written in the Dharma Sastra of 
Menu, that the Brahman who has drank the milk of a Sudarni, or 
has been even breathed upon by a Sudarni, or has been born of 
such a female, is not restored to his rank by praydschitta. In the 
same work it is further asserted, that if any Brahman eat and 
drink from the hands of a Sudarni, he becomes in life a Sudra, 
and after death a dog. Manu further says, that a Brahman who 
associates with female Sudras, or keeps a Sudra concubine, shall 
be rejected by gods and ancestors, and after death shall go to hell. 
From all these assertions of the Manavd Dharma, it is clear that 
Brahmanhood is nothing indefeasibly attached to any race or 
breed, but is merely a quality of good men. Further, it is writ- 
ten in the Sastra of Manu, that many Sudras became Brahmans 
by force of their piety ; for example, Kathinu Muni, who was- 
born of the sacrificial flame produced by the friction of wood, be- 
came a Brahman by dint of Tap as ; and Vasishtha Muni, born 
of the courtezan Urvasi ; and Vyasa Muni, born of a female of 



199 



the fisherman's caste ; and Rishiya Sringa Muni, born of a 
doe; and Vishva Mitra, born a Chandalni ; and Nared Muni, 
born of a female spirit-seller ; all these became Brahmans by vir- 
tue of their Tapas. Is it not clear then that Brahmanhood de- 
pends not on birth ? It is also notorious that he who has conquer- 
ed himself is a Yati ; that he who performs penance is a Tapa- 
sya ; and that he who observes the Brahma chary a is a Brah- 
man. It is clear then that he whose life is pure, and his temper 
cheerful, is the true Brahman ; and that lineage {Kuld) has no- 
thing to do with the matter. There are these slokas in the Ma- 
nava Dharma, " Goodness of disposition and purity are the best 
of all things ; lineage is not alone deserving of respect. If the 
race be royal and virtue be wanting to it, it is contemptible and 
useless." Kathina Muni and Vyasa Muni, and other sages, 
though born of Sudras, are famous among men as Brahmans ; 
and many persons born in the lowest ranks have attained heaven 
by the practice of uniform good conduct (sila.) To say there- 
fore that the Brahman is of one particular race is idle and false. 

Your doctrine, that the Brahman was produced from the mouth, 
the Kshatriya from the arms, the Vaisya from the thighs, and the 
Sudra from the feet, cannot be supported. Brahmans are not of 
one particular race. Many persons have lived who belonged to 
the Kaivarta Kul, and the Rajaka Kid, and the Chdndal Kul, and 
yet, while they existed in this world, performed the Chura Karan, 
and Mung-bandan, and Dant-kashtha, and other acts appropriat- 
ed to Brahmans, and after their deaths became, and still are, fa- 
mous under the Brahmans. 

All that I have said about Brahmans you must know is equally 
applicable to Kshatriyas ; and that the doctrine of the four castes 
is altogether false. All men are of one caste. 

Wonderful ! You affirm that all men proceeded from one, i. e. 
Brahma ; how then can there be a fourfold insuperable diversity 
among them ? If I have four sons by one wife, the four sons, 
having one father and mother, must be all essentially alike. 
Know too that distinctions of race among beings are broadly mark- 
ed by differences of conformation and organization : thus, the 



200 



foot of the elephant is very different from that of the horse ; that 
of the tiger unlike that of the deer ; and so of the rest : and by that 
single diagnosis we learn that those animals belong to very differ- 
ent races. But I never heard that the foot of a Kshatriya was 
different from that of a Brahman, or that of a Sudra. All men 
are formed alike, and are clearly of one race. Further, the ge- 
nerative organs, the colour, the figure, the ordure, the urine, the 
odour, and utterance, of the ox, the buffalo, the horse, the ele- 
phant, the ass, the monkey, the goat, the sheep, &c. furnish clear 
diagnostics whereby to separate these various races of animals : 
but in all those respects the Brahman resembles the Kshatriya, 
and is therefore of the same race or species with him. I have 
instanced among quadrupeds the diversities which separate di- 
verse genera. I now proceed to give some more instances from 
among birds. Thus, the goose, the dove, the parrot, the pea- 
cock, &c. are known to be different by their diversities of figure, 
and colour, and plumage, and beak : but the Brahman, Ksha- 
triya, Vaisya and Sudra are alike without and within. How then 
can we say they are essentially distinct ? Again, among trees the 
Bdta, and Bakula, and Palds, and Ashoka, and Tamal, and Nag- 
keswar, and Shirik, and Champa, and others, are clearly contra- 
distinguished by their stems, and leaves, and flowers, and fruits, 
and barks, and timber, and seeds, and juices, and odours ; but 
Brahmans, and Kshatriyas, and the rest, are alike in flesh, and 
skin, and blood, and bones, and figure, and excrements, and mode 
of birth. It is surely then clear that they are of one species or 
race. 

Again, tell me, is a Brahman's sense of pleasure and pain 
different from that of a Kshatriya ? Does not the one sustain 
life in the same way, and find death from the same causes as the 
other ? Do they differ in intellectual faculties, in their actions, 
or the objects of those actions ; in the manner of their birth, or in 
their subjection to fear and hope ? Not a whit. It is therefore 
clear that they are essentially the same. In the Udambdra and 
Panosa trees the fruit is produced from the branches, the stem, 
the joints, and the roots. Is one fruit therefore different from 



201 



another, so that we may call that produced from the top of the 
stem the Brahman fruit, and that from the roots the Sudra fruit ? 
Surely not. Nor can men be of four distinct races, because they 
sprang from four different parts of one body. You say that the 
Brahman was produced from the mouth ; whence was the Brah- 
mani produced ? From the mouth likewise ? Grant it — and then 
you must marry the brother to the sister ! a pretty business in- 
deed! if such incest is to have place in this world of ours, all dis- 
tinctions of right and wrong must be obliterated. 

This consequence, flowing inevitably from your doctrine that 
the Brahman proceeded from the mouth, proves the falsity of that 
doctrine. The distinctions between Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas 
and Sudras, are founded merely on the observance of divers rites, 
and the practice of different professions ; as is clearly proved by 
the conversation of Baisham Payana Rishi with Yudhisthira 
Raja, which was as follows : One day the son of Pandu, named 
Yudhisthira, who was the wise man of his age, joining his hands 
reverentially, asked Baisham Payana, Whom do you call a 
Brahman ; and what are the signs of Brahmanhood ? Baisham 
answered, The first sign of a Brahman is, that he* possesses long- 
suffering and the rest of the virtues, and never is guilty of violence 
and wrong doing ; that he never eats flesh ; and never hurts a sen- 
tient thing. The second sign is, that he never takes that which 
belongs to another without the owner's consent, even though he 
find it in the road. The third sign, that he masters all worldly 
affections and desires, and is absolutely indifferent to earthly con- 
siderations. The fourth, that whether he is born a man, or a 
god, or a beast, he never yields to sexual desires. The fifth 
that he possesses the following five pure qualities, truth, mercy, 
command of the senses, universal benevolence, and penance.* 
Whoever possesses these five signs of Brahmanhood I acknow- 
ledge to be a Brahman ; and, if he possess them not, he is a Su- 

* The word in the original is Tapas, which we are accustomed to translate 
* penance," and I have followed the usage, though " ascetism" would be a bet- 
ter word. The proud Tapasyi, whom the very gods regard with dread, never 
dreams of contrition and repentance. 

Z 



202 



•dra. Brahmanhood depends not on race (Kuli,) or birth (Jat,) nor 
on the performance of certain ceremonies. If a Bhanddl is vir- 
tuous, and possesses the signs above noted, he is a Brahman. Oh ! 
Yudhisthira, formerly in this world of ours there was but one 
caste. The division into four castes originated with diversity of 
rites and of avocations. All men, were born of woman in like 
manner. All are subject to the same physical necessities, and 
have the same organs and senses. But he whose conduct is uni- 
formly good is a Brahman ; and if it be otherwise he is a Sudra ; 
aye, lower than a Sudra. The Sudra who, on. the other hand, 
possesses these virtues is a Brahman. 

Oh, Yudhisthira! If a Sudra be superior to the allurements 
-of the five senses, to give him charity is a virtue that will be re; 
warded in heaven. Heed not his caste ; but only mark his qua- 
lities. Whoever in this life ever does well, and is ever ready to 
benefit others, spending his days and nights in good acts, such an 
one is a Brahman ; and whoever, relinquishing worldly ways, 
employs himself solely in the acquisition of Moksha, such an one 
also is a Brahman ; and whoever refrains from destruction of life, 
and from worcfty affections, and evil acts, and is free from pas- 
sion and backbiting, such an one also is a Brahman ; and whoso 
possesses Kshema, and Daya, and Dama, and Dan, and Satya, 
and Souchana, and Smritti, and Ghrina, and Vidya, and Vijnan, 
&c. is a Brahman. Oh, Yudhisthira! if a person perform 
the Brahmacharya for one night, the merit of it is greater than 
that of a thousand sacrifices {yajnd). And whoso has read all 
the Vedas, and performed all the Tirthas, and observed all the 
commands and prohibitions of the Sastra, such an one is a Brah- 
man ! and whoso has never injured a sentient thing by act, word 
or thought, such a person shall instantly be absorbed (at his 
death) in Brahma. Such were the words of Baisham Payana. 
Oh, my friend, my design in the above discourse is, that all igno- 
rant Brahmans and others should acquire wisdom by studying it, 
and take to the right way. Let them, if they approve it, heed 
it ; and if they approve it not, let them neglect its admonitions. 



203 



No. XIV. 

ON THE EXTREME RESEMBLANCE THAT PREVAILS BETWEEN MANY 
OF THE SYMBOLS OF BUDDHISM AND SAIVISM. 

(Printed from the Quarterly Oriental Magazine, No. 14, A. D. 1827.) 
To the Editor of the Oriental Quarterly Magazii\e. 

Sir, 

It is the purpose of the following paper to furnish to those 
who have means and inclination to follow them out, a few hints 
relative to the extreme resemblance that prevails between many 
of the symbols of Buddhism and Saivism. Having resided my- 
self some few years in a Bauddha country, I have had ample op- 
portunities of noting this resemblance, and a perusal of the works 
of Crawfurd, of Raffles, and of the Bombay Literary Society, 
has satisfied me that this curious similitude is not peculiar to the 
land wherein I abide. I observe that my countrymen, to whom 
any degree of identity between faiths in general so opposite to 
each other as Saivism and Buddhism, never seems to have occur- 
red, have in their examinations of the monuments of India and its 
Islands, proceeded upon the assumption of an absolute incommu- 
nity between the types of the two religions as well as between 
the things typified.* This assumption has puzzled them not a 
little so often as the evidence of their eyes has forced upon them, 
the observation of images in the closest juxta position which their 
previous ideas nevertheless obliged them to sunder as far apart as 
Brahmanism and Buddhism ! 

When in the country in which I reside, I observed images the 
most apparently Saiva placed in the precincts of Saugata temples, 

* This remark is scarcely just, the possible connection of the Saiva and Bud- 
dha systems on Java and Bali having been frequently conjectured, and in India 
the intermixture of Jain, with Vaishnva, and even Sakta practices is not uncom- 
mon. — Ed. 

Z 2 



204 



I was at first inclined to consider the circumstance as an incon- 
gruity arising out of an ignorant confusion of the two creeds by 
the people of this country : but upon multiplying my observations 
such a solution gave me no satisfaction : these images often occu- 
pied the very penetralia of Saugata temples ; and in the sequel I 
obtained sufficient access to the conversation, and books of the 
Bauddhas to convince me that the cause of the difficulty lay deep- 
er then I had supposed.* The best informed of the Bauddhas 
contemptuously rejected the notion of the images in question be- 
ing Saiva, and in the books of their own faith they pointed out 
the Bauddha legends justifying and explaining their use of such, 
to me, doubtful symbols. Besides, my access to the European 
works of which I have already spoken exhibited to me the very 
same apparent anomaly existing in regions the most remote from 
one another, and from that wherein I dwell. Indeed, whencesoever 
Bauddha monuments, sculptural or architectural, had been drawn 
by European curiosity, the same dubious symbols were exhibited : 
nor could my curiosity be at all appeased by the assumption 
which I found employed to explain them. I shewed these mo- 
numents to a well informed old Bauddha, and asked him what he 
thought of them, particularly of the famous Tri-Murti image of 
the Cave temple of the West. He recognised it as a genuine 
Bauddha image! As he did many — many others declared by 
our writers to be Saiva ! Of these matters you may perchance 
hear hereafter, suffice it at present to say that I continued to in- 
terrogate my friend as to whether he had ever visited the plains 
of India, and had there found any remains of his faith. Yes, was 
the prompt reply, I made a pilgrimage to Gayah, in my youth : 
I then asked him if he remembered what he had seen and could 
tell me. He replied that he had, at the time, put a few remarks 
on paper which he had preserved, and would give me a copy of, if I 
desired it. I bid him do so, and was presented with a paper of which 

* Causes are not at present my game : but consider the easy temper of su- 
perstition ; the common origin of Buddhism and Brahmanism in India ; the 
common tendency of both Saivaism and Buddhism to asceticism, &c. &c. even 
Christianity adopted many of the rites and emblems of classic paganism. 



205 



the enclosed is a translation. Let me add that never having visited 
Gayah, I cannot say any thing relative to the accuracy of my friend's 
details, and that in regard to the topographical ones, there are pro- 
bably a few slight mistakes. I am aware that an accurate explana- 
tion from the Bauddha books of the drawings that accompany my 
paper, would be of more value than that paper. But, Sir, non omnia 
possumus omnes, and I hope that a Bauddha comment on Brah- 
manical ignorance will be found to possess some value, as a curio- 
sity ; and some utility, for the hints it furnishes relative to the 
topic adverted to in this letter. 

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 

Valley of JYepaul, Nov. 1827. H. 

P. S. — Captain Dangerfield's five images in the Cave at 
Bag, and which the Brahmans told him were the five Pandus, 
are doubtless the " Pancha Buddha Dhyani ;" as is the Captain's 
" Charan," said to be that of Vishnu, the Charan of Sakya Sinha ; 
or that of Manj Ghok. If it be the latter, it has an eye engrav- 
ed in the centre of each foot. 



Buddh Gayah, according to a Nepaulese Bauddha who visit- 
ed it. t 

In Buddh Gayah there is a temple* of Maha Buddha in the 
interior of which is enshrined the image of Sakya Sinha : before the 
image is a Chaitya of stone, close to which are the images of three 
L6k Eshwaras, viz. Hala Hala L6k Eshwara,f &c. This temple 

* The word in the original is Kutagar, and I understand that the temple of 
Maha Buddha in the city of Patan, in this valley, is built after the model of the 
Gayah temple. If so, the latter is of the same general form with the Orissan 
Jagannath. The Patan temple is divided in the interior, into five stories. Sakya 
Sinha, the genius loci, is enshrined in the centre of the first story ; Amitabha, 
the fourth Dhyani Buddha, occupies the second story ; a small stone Chaitya, the 
third ; the Dharma Dhatu mandal, the fourth ; and the Vajra Dhatu mandal, 
the fifth and highest story, and the whole structure is crowned on the outside, by 
a Chura Mani Chaitya. 

f Hala Hala Lok Eshwara, a form of Padma Pani, the fourth Dhyani Bodhi- 
satwa, and active creator and governor of the presetit system of nature. Three 

Dhyani 



206 



of Maha Buddha, the Brahmans call the temple of Jagat Nathdj 
and the image of Sakya Sinha they denominate Maha Muni ;* of 
the three L6k Naths, one they call Maha Deva, one Parvati, and 
the third their son. On the south side of the temple of Maha 
Buddha is a small stone temple in which are the images of the 
seven Buddhas, f and near to them on the left three other images, 
of Hala Hala L6k Eshwara, Maitreya Bodhisatwa, and Dipanka- 
ra Buddha. The Brahmans call six of the seven Buddhas, the 
Pandus and their bride, but know not what to make of the se- 
venth Buddha, or of the remaining three images. 

Upon the wall of the small temple containing the Sapta Bud- 
dha, and immediately above their images, is an image of Vajra 
Satwa,J one head, two hands, in the right hand a Vajra, and in the 
left a bell, with the lock on the crown of the head, twisted into a 
turban : the Brahmans call this image of Vajra Satwa Maha 
Brahma. At the distance of 15 yards, perhaps, east of the great 
temple of Maha Buddha is another small temple in which is plac- 
ed a circular slab having the print of the feet of Sakya Sinha 

Dhyani Bodhisatwas preceded him in that office, and one remains to follow 
him. 

* This name is equivocal : the Brahmans mean. I suppose, to designate by 
it the chief of their own Munis. The Bauddhas recognise it as just, since the 
Tri-Kand Sesh, and many of their scriptures give this name to Sakya Sinha. 

f The Bauddha scriptures say that one form is common to all the seven 
great Manushi Buddhas. The figure I have given of Sakya has the Bhumi- 
sparsa Mudra, or right hand touching the earth. The Gayah image of him is 
said to have the Dhyan Mudra for the position of the hands. There is no- 
thing improper in giving that Mudra to Sakya or other Manushi Buddhas. but 
usually it is appropriated to Amitabha ; and almost all the images of Sakya 
that I have seen are characterised by the Bhumi-sparsa Mudra. Sakya's image 
is generally supported by lions, sometimes however by elephants. Sakya's appro- 
priate colour is yellow or golden, which colour, like the other characteristics, 
belongs also to the remaining six great Manushis. 

\ Vajra Satwa is a Dhyani or celestial Buddha. There is a series of five 
celestial Buddhas, to whom are assigned the five elements of matter, the five 
powers of human sense, and the five respective objects of sensation. There is 
also a series of six Dhyani Buddhas, which is composed of the above five, with 
the addition of Vajra Satwa, and to him are ascribed intellectual force and the 
discrimination of good and evil. 



207 



graven on it. The feet are known to be those of Sakya, because 
the stone has the eight mangals, and the one thousand chakras 
upon it. The Brahmans of Gayah call this Charan, the Charan 
of Vishnu, but they are silent when the mangals and chakras are 
pointed out to them as decisive proofs of their error. 

Somewhat further [perhaps 150 yards] from the great temple 
of Maha Buddha towards the east, is a Kund called Pani 
Hata, and at the eastern corner of the well is the image of Mai- 
treya Bodhisatwa. 

The Kund is called Pani Plata because Sakya produced the 
spring of water by striking his hand on the ground there. That 
water has eight peculiar qualities. The Brahmans say that the 
Kund is Saraswati's, and insist that Maitreya's image is the image 
of Saraswati. At a little distance to the north of the great Maha 
Buddha temple are many small Chaityas,* which the Brahmans 
call Siva Lingas, and as such worship them, having broken off the 
Chura Mani from each. Much astonished was I to find the great 
temple of my religion consecrated to Brahman worship, and Brah- 
mans ignorantly falling down before the Gods of my fathers. 



(Printed from the Quarterly Oriental Magazine, No. 16, A. D. 1828.) 
To the Editor of the Quarterly Oriental Magazine. 

Sir, 

Some time ago I sent you a paper containing remarks upon 
the resemblance that prevails between the symbols of Buddhism 
and Sivaism. From a note which you appended to that paper 
on publishing it, T apprehend that the scope and object of my re- 
marks were misunderstood ; and, as whatever is worth doing at 
all, is worth doing effectually, I shall (availing myself of Craw- 

* The Chaitya is the only proper temple of Buddhism, though many other 
temples have been adopted by the Saugatas for inshrining their Dii Minores, 
In Nepaul, the Chaitya is exclusively appropriated to five Dhyani Buddhas, 
whose images are placed in niches around the base of the solid hemisphere 
which forms the 'most essential pai't of the Chaitya. Almost every Nepaul 
Chaitya has its hemisphere surmounted by a cone or pyramid called Chura 
Mani. The small and unadorned Chaitya mi^ht easily be taken for a Linga. It 
was so mistaken by Mr. Crawfurd, &c. 



208 



furd's Archipelago, which has just now again fallen in my way) 
return briefly to the subject. The purpose of my former paper 
was to show that, very many symbols, the most apparently Saiva, 
are notwithstanding strictly and purely Bauddha ; and that, there- 
fore, in the examination of the antiquities of India and its islands, 
we need not vex ourselves, because on the sites of old Saugata 
temples we find the very genius loci arrayed with many of the 
apparent attributes of a Saiva God ; far less, need we infer from 
the presence, on such sites, of seemingly Saiva images and types, 
the presence of actual Sivaism. 

Crawfurd, standing in the midst of hundreds of images of Bud- 
dhas, on the platform of a temple, the general form and structure of 
which irresistibly demonstrated that it was consecrated to Sugatism, 
could yet allow certain appearances of Sivaism to conduct him to the 
conclusion, that the presiding Deity of the place was Hara himself! 
Nay, further, though he was persuaded that the ancient religion of 
the Javanese was Buddhism, yet having always found what he con- 
ceived to be unequivocal indices of the presidency of the Hindoo 
destroyer, in all the great Saugata temples, he came to the gene- 
ral conclusion, that " genuine Buddhism" is no other than Sivaism. 
Now, Sir, it was with an eye to these, and somewhat similar de- 
ductions of Crawfurd, Raffles, Erskine, &c. that I addressed my 
former paper to you ; and I thought that when I had shown no 
reliance could be placed upon the inference from seemingly Saiva 
symbols to actual Sivaism, I had smoothed the way for the ad- 
mission that those cave temples of the West of India, as well as 
those fine edifices at Java, whereat the majority of indications, 
both for number and weight, prove Buddhism, are Bauddha and 
exclusively Bauddha ; notwithstanding the presence of symbols 
and images occupying the post of honour, which, strongly to the 
eye, but in fact, erroneously in these cases, seem to imply Sivaism, 
or at least a coalition of the two faiths. For such a coalition at 
any time and in any place, I have not seen one plausible argument 
adduced ; and as for the one ordinarily derived from the existence 
of supposed Saiva images and emblems in and around Bauddha 
temples, it is both erroneous in fact, and insufficient were it true. 



209 



However probably borrowed 'from Sivaism, these images and symbols 
became genuinely Bauddha by their adoption into Buddhism — -just 
as the statue of a Capitoiine Jupiter became the very orthodox effi- 
gies of St. Paul, because the Romanists chose to adopt the Pagan 
idol in an orthodox sense. And were this explanation of the ex- 
istence of seeming Sivaism in sites which were beyond doubt 
consecrated to Buddhism, far less satisfactory that it is, I would 
still say it is a thousand times more reasonable than the supposition 
of an identity or coalition* between two creeds, the speculative 
tenets of which are wide asunder as heaven and earth, and the 
followers of which are pretty well known to have been, so soon 
as Buddhism became important, furiously opposed to each other. 

Upon the whole, therefore, I deem it certain, as well that the types 
of Sivaism and Buddhism are very frequently the same, as that the 
things typified are, always more or less, and generally radically, 
different. 

Of the aptness of our writers to infer Sivaism from apparently 
Siva images and emblems, I shall adduce a few striking instances 
from Crawfnrd's 2d vol. chap. 1, on the ancient religion of the 
Islanders; and' to save time and avoid odium, I shall speak ra- 
ther to his engravings, than to his text ; and shall merely state 
matters, without arguing them. 

Let me add, too, that Crawford's mistakes could not well have 
been avoided. He had no access to the dead or living oracles of 
Buddhism, and reasoning only from what he saw, reasonably in- 
ferred that images, the most apparently Saiva, were really what 
they seemed to be ; and that Saiva images and emblems proved a 
Saiva place of worship. 

In his chapter already alluded to, there are several engravings. 
No. 27 is said to be "a figure of MahaDeva as a devotee." It is,, 
in fact, Sinha-Natha-Lokeswara. Plate 28 is called " a represen- 
tation of Siva." It is, in fact, Lokeswara Bhagawan, or Padma 
Pani, in his character of creator and ruler of the present system of 

* In regard to those cave temples of the Western Continent of India, call-, 
ed mixed Saiva and Bauddha, the best suggested solution is successive possession 
— but I believe them to have been wholly Buddhist, 

2 A 



210 

nature. How Mr. Crawfurd could take it for Siva, I do not 
know, since in the forehead is placed a tiny image of Amitabha 
Buddha, whose son Padma Pani is feigned, by the Bauddha myco- 
logists, to be. Again, the principal personage in plate 21 is said 
to be " Siva in his car." It is, in truth, Namuchi Mara, (the 
Bauddha personification of the evil principle,) proceeding to in- 
terrupt the Dhyan of Sakya Sinha ; and plate 22 gives a continu- 
ation of this exploit, exhibiting Sakya meditating, and the frustra- 
tion of Namuchi's attempt by the opposition of force to force. 
The whole legend is to be found in the Sambhu purana. 

The same work contains likewise the elucidation of plate 24, of 
which Mr. C. could make nothing. 

Of the remaining plates, and of the text of this chapter of Mr. 
C.'s on other subjects, very able work, it would be easy, but it 
would to me be wearisome, to furnish the true explanation from 
the books or oral communications of the Bauddhas of Nepaul, to 
the more learned of whom the subjects of the plates in Mr. C.'s 
book are perfectly familiar. One quotation from Mr. C.'s text, 
and I have done. At p. 209, vol. ii. he observes : " The fact 
most worthy of attention, in respect to the images of Buddha is, 
that they never appear in any of the great central temples as the 
primary objects of worship, but in the smaller surrounding ones, 
seeming themselves to represent votaries. They are not found as 
single images, but always in numbers together,* seeming, in a 
word, to represent, not Deities themselves, but sages worshipping 
Siva." 

The whole secret of this marvel is, that the temples seen by 
Mr. C. were not genuine Chaityas, but either composite Chai- 
tyas, or structures still less exclusively appropriated to the Dii 
majores of Buddhism. The genuine Chaitya is a solid structure 
exclusively appropriated to the Dhyani Buddhas, whose images 
are placed in niches round the base of its hemisphere. Manushi 

* And why not? for Buddha is a mere title : and though there are but five 
Dhyani Buddhas, there are hundreds of Manushis, which latter are constantly 
placed about temples in vast numbers ; always as objects, though not, when so 
placed, special ones, of worship. 



211 



Buddhas and Dhyani and Manushi Bodhisatwas and Lokeswaras, 
with their Saktis, are placed in and around various holloiv tem- 
ples, less sacred than the Chaityas. These Bodhisatwas and Loke- 
swaras never have the peculiar hair of the Buddhas, but, instead 
thereof, long-braided locks like Siva; often also the sacred 
thread and other indications apt to be set down as proofs, " strong 
as holy writ," of their being Brahmanical Deities. Such indica- 
tions, however, are delusive, and the instances of plates 27 and 
28, shew how Mr. C. was misled by them. 

By the way, Mr. C. is biassed by his theory to discover Sivaism, 
where it did not and could not exist, of which propensity we have 
an odd instance (unless it be an oversight or misprint) in p. 219 : 
for no one needs be told that Hari is Vishnu, not Siva,* and I 
may add that in adopting as Dii minores, the Gods of the Hindoo 
Pantheon, the Bauddhas have not, by any means, entirely confined 
themselves to the Sectarian Deities of the Saivas. 

I am, Sir, 

Your obedient Servant, 
September 10, 1828. H. 

P. S. — A theistic sect of Bauddhas having been announced, as 
discovered in Nepaul, it is presently inferred that this is a local 
peculiarity. Let us not be in too great haste : Mr. Crawfurd's 
book, (loco citato) affords a very fine engraving of an image of 
Akshobhya, the 1st Dhyani, or Celestial Bauddha, see plate 29, 
and I have remarked generally, that our engravings of Bauddha 
architecture and sculpture, drawn from the Indian Cave temples, 
from Java, &c. conform in the minutest particulars, to the existing 
Saugata monuments of Nepaul — which monuments prove here, 
(as at Java,) the Foreign and Indian origin of Buddhism, animals, 
implements, vehicles, dresses, being alien to Nepaul, and proper 
to India. 

* See also pp. 221-2, for a singular error into which apparently Mr. C's. 
pursuit of his theory could alone have led him. Flowers not offered by Hindoos 
to their Gods, and therefore Buddha was a sage merely, and not a God ! ! 



2 A 2 



212 



No. XV. 

( Xot before printed ) 

THE PRAVRAJYA VEATA OR INITIATORY RITES OF THE BUDDHISTS 
ACCORDING TO THE FUJA KASD. 

If any one desires to become a Bandya (monastic or proper 
Buddhist) he must give notice thereof, not more than a month or 
less than four days, to his Guru, to whom he must present paun, 
and supari, and datchina and achat, requesting the Guru to give 
him the Pravrajya Vrata. The Guru, if he assent, must accept 
the offerings and perform the Kalas puja which is as follows. The 
Guru takes* a kalas or vessel full of water and puts into it a lo- 
tos made of gold or other precious metal, and five confections, 
and five flowers, and five trees (small branches), and five drugs, 
and five fragrant things, and five Birihi, and five Amrita, and five 
Ratna, and five threads of as many diverse colours. Above the 
vessel he places rice and then makes puja to it. He next seats 
the aspirant before the vessel in the Vajra asan fashion and draws 
on the ground before the aspirant four mandals or circular diagrams, 
three of which are devoted to the Tri Ratna and the fourth to the 
officiating Guru. Then the aspirant, repeats the following text, 
* I salute Buddhanath, andDharma, and Sangha. and entreat them to 
bestow the Pravrajya Vrata on me, wherefore I perform this rite to 
them and to my Guru, and present these offerings.' Reciting 
this text and holding five suparis in each hand, the aspirant, with 
joined hands, begs the Guru to make him a Bandya. The offer- 
ings above mentioned he gives to the Guru and datchina propor- 
tioned to his means. This ceremony is called Gwal Dan. On 
the next day the ceremony above related is repeated with the 
undermentioned variations only. As in the Gwal Dan the Kalas 
puja and Deva puja are performed, so here again: but the aspi- 
rant on the former occasion is seated in the Vajra asan manner, 
in this day's ceremony in the Sustaka asan. The Sustaka asan 



213 



is thus, first of all, kus is spread on the ground, and above it, 
two unbaked bricks, and above tliem, the Siistak is inscribed thus 
upon which the aspirant is seated. 

Then the aspirant is made Niranjana, that is, 
a light is kindled and shown to him, and some 
mantras repeated to him. Then the Vajra Raksha 
is performed, that is, upon the aspirant's head a 
Vajra is placed and the Guru reads some mantras. Next comes 
the ceremony of the Loha Raksha, that is, the Guru takes three 
iron padlocks, and places one on the belly and the two others on 
the shoulders of the neophyte, repeating some more mantras, the 
purport of which is an invocation of divine protection from ill, on 
the head of the aspirant. This rite is followed by the Agni Raksha, 
that is, the Guru puts a cup of wine (sura-patrd) on the head of 
the Chela and utters some prayers over him. 

Next is performed the Kalas-Abhisheka, that is, holy water 
from the Kalas is sprinkled by the Guru on the Chela's head and 
prayers repeated over him ; after which, the Naikya Randya or 
head of the Vihar comes and puts a silver ring on the finger of 
the aspirant. The Naikya or superior aforesaid, then takes four 
seers of rice and milk mixed with flowers, and sprinkles the 
whole at three times, on the aspirant's head, next the Naikya 
performs the Vajra Raksha, and then makes puja to the Guru 
Mandal before mentioned, which ceremony completed, he rings a 
bell, and then sprinkles rice on the aspirant and on the images 
of the Gods. 

Then the aspirant, rising, pays his devotions to his Guru, and 
having presented a small present and a plate of rice to him, and 
having received his blessing, departs. This second day's cere- 
mony is called Dusala. 

The third day's is denominated Pravrajya Vrata, and is as fol- 
lows : — ■ 

Early in the morning the following things, viz. the image of 
a Chaitya, those of the Tri Ratna or Triad, the Prajna Paramita 
scripture, and other sacred scriptures, a kalas, or water pot filled 
with the articles before enumerated, a platter of curds, four other 




214 



water pots filled with water only, a Chi vara and Newas, a Pinda 
patru and a Khikshari, a pair of wooden sandals, a small mixed 
metal plate spread over with pounded sandal wood in which the 
image of the moon is inscribed, a golden rasor and a silver one, 
and, lastly, a plate of dressed rice, are collected, and the aspirant 
is seated in the Sustak Asan and made to perform worship to the 
Guru Mandala, and the Chaitya, and the Tri Ratna, and the Prajra 
Paramita Sastra. Then the aspirant, kneeling with one knee on 
the ground with joined hands, entreats the Guru to make him a 
Bandya, and to teach him whatsoever it is needful for him to know. 
The Guru answers, ' O ! disciple ! if you desire to perform the Pra- 
vrajya Vrata, first of all devote yourself to the worship of the 
Chaitya and of the Tri Ratna ; you must observe the five pre- 
cepts or Naucha Siksha, the fastings and the vows prescribed ; you 
must kill no living thing ; nor take another's property without the 
owner's leave ; nor go near women, nor speak untruths, nor touch 
all intoxicating liquors and drugs ; nor be proud of heart in conse- 
quence of your observance of your religious and moral duties ?' 

Then the aspirant pledges him thrice to observe the whole of 
the above precepts ; upon which the Guru tells him, ' If while you 
live you will keep the above rules, then will I make you a Ban- 
dya.' He assents, when the Guru having again given the three 
Rakshas above mentioned to the Chela, delivers a cloth for the 
loins to him to put on. Then the Guru brings the aspirant out 
into the Court yard, and having seated him, touches his hair with 
rice and oil and gives those articles to a barber. The Guru next 
puts on the ground a little pulse and desires the Chela to apply it 
to his own feet. Then the Guru gives the Chela a cloth of four 
finger's breadth and one cubit in length, woven with threads of 
five colours, and which is especially manufactured for this pur- 
pose, to bind round his head. Then he causes the aspirant to 
perform his ablutions ; after which he makes puja to the hands of 
the barber in the name of Viswakarma, and then causes the bar- 
ber to shave all the hair, save the forelock, off the aspirant's head. 
Then, the paternal or maternal aunt of the aspirant takes the ves- 
sel of mixed metal above noted and collects the hair into it. The 



215 



aspirant is now bathed again and his nails pared ; when the a- 
bove party puts the parings into the pot with the hair. Another 
ablution of the aspirant follows, after which the aspirant is taken 
again within, and seated. Then the Guru causes him to eat and also 
sprinkles upon him the Pancha Gabha, and says to him, ' Hereto- 
fore you have lived a householder ; have you a real desire to aban- 
don that state and assume the state of an ascetic ?' The aspirant 
answers in the affirmative, when the Guru or Naikya, or mater- 
nal uncle, cuts off with his own hand, the aspirant's forelock. 
Then the Guru puts a tiara adorned with the images of the five 
Buddhas on his own head, and taking the kalas or water pot, 
sprinkles the aspirant with holy water, repeating prayers at the 
same time over him. 

The neophyte is then again brought below, when four Naikyas 
or superiors of proximate Vihars and the aspirant's Guru perform 
the Pancha Abhisheka, i. e. the Guru takes water from the kalas 
and pours it into a conch ; and then, ringing a bell and repeating 
prayers, sprinkles the water from the conch on the aspirant's 
head ; whilst the four Naikyas, taking water from the other four 
water pots named above, severally baptize the aspirant. The mu- 
sicians present then strike up, when the Naikyas and Guru invoke 
the following blessing on the neophyte. ' May you be happy as he 
who dwells in the hearts of all, who is the universal Atma, the lord 
of all, the Buddha called Ratna Sambhava.' The aspirant is next 
led by the Naikyas and Guru above stairs, and seated as before. 
He is then made to perform puja to the Guru Mandal and to sprin- 
kle rice on the images of the Deities. The Guru next gives him the 
Chivara, and Navasa, and golden earrings, when the aspirant thrice 
says to the Guru, ' O Guru, I, who am such an one, have abandoned 
the state of a householder for this whole birth, and have become 
an ascetic' Upon which the aspirant's former name is relinquished 
and a new one given him, such as Ananda Shali Putra, Kasyapa, 
Dharma Sri Mitra, Paramita Sagar. Then the Guru causes him to 
perform puja to the Tri Ratna, after having given him a golden tika, 
and repeated some prayers over him. The Guru then repeats the fol- 
lowing praises of the Tri Ratna, ' I salute that Buddha who is the 



216 



lord of the three worlds, whom Gods and men alike worship, who 
is apart from the world, long-suffering, profound as the ocean, 
the quintessence of all good, the D liar ma Raj and Munendra, the 
destroyer of desire and affection,, and vice and darkness ; who is 
void of avarice and lust, who is the ikon of wisdom. I ever in- 
voke him, placing my head on his feet.' 

' I salute that Dharma, who is the Prajna Paramita, pointing 
out the way of perfect tranquillity to all mortals, leading them into 
the paths of perfect wisdom ; who, by the testimony of all the 
sages, produced or created all things ; who is the mother of all the 
Bodhisatwas and Sravakas, I salute that Sangha, who is Padma 
Pani, and Maitreya, and Gagan Ganja, and Samanta Bhadra, and 
Vajra Pani, and Manju Ghosha, and Sarvani Varana Viskambhi, 
and Kshitti Garbha and Kha Garbha.' The aspirant then says to 
the Guru, ' I will devote my whole life to the Tri Ratna, nor ever 
desert them.' Then the Guru gives him the Das Siksha or ten 
precepts observed by all the Buddhas and Bhikshukas ; and com- 
mands his observance of them. They are, 1. Thou shalt not des- 
troy life ; 2. Thou shale not steal ; 3. Thou shalt not follow strange 
faiths ; 4. Thou shalt not lye ; 5. Thou shalt not touch intoxicating 
liquors or drugs ; 6. Thou shalt not be proud of heart ; 7. Thou 
shalt avoid music, dancing and all such idle toys ; 8. Thou shalt not 
dress in fine clothes, nor use perfumes or ornaments ; 9. Thou shalt 
sit and sleep in lowly places ; 10. Thou shalt not eat out of the 
prescribed hours. 

The Guru then says, 6 All these things the Buddhas avoided. 
You are now become a Bhikshu and must avoid them too ;' which 
said, the Guru obliterates the Tri Ratna Mandala. Next, the aspi- 
rant asks from the Guru the Chivara and Mvasa, the Pinda Patra 
and Khikshari and Gandhar. The aspirant proceeds to make a 
Mandala and places in it five flowers and five Druba-Kund and some 
khil and some rice, and assuming the Utkutak Asan, and joining his 
hands, he repeats the praises of the Tri Ratna above cited, and 
then again requests his Guru to give him three suits of the Chi- 
vara and the like number of the Nivasa — one for occasions of 
ceremony as attending the palace, another for wearing at meals, 



217 



and the third for ordinary wear. He also requests from his Guru 
the like number of Gandhar or drinking cups, of Pinda Patra and 
of Khikshari. One entire suit of these the aspirant then assumes, 
receiving them from the hands of the Guru, who, previously to 
giving them, consecrate them, by prayers. The aspirant then says, 
' Now I have received the Pravrajya Vratta, I will religiously 
observe the Sil-asgand, the Saladh-asgand, the Prajna-asgand, and 
the Vimokhti-asgand.' 

Then the Guru gives him four sprinklings of holy water and 
presents him with an umbrella havingr32 radii. Next he sprin- 
kles him once again and gives him a pair of wooden sandals — af- 
ter which the Guru draws on the ground linearly, and near to each 
other, seven images of the lotos flower, upon each of which he puts a 
supari, and then commands the aspirant to traverse them, placing 
a foot on each as he proceeds. When the Chela has done so, the 
Guru placing the Pancha Raksha Sastra on his head, sends him 
into the sanctum, where stands the image of Sakya Sinha, to offer 
to it pan, and supari, and datchina. All this the Chela does, and 
likewise performs the Pancha Upacharya puja ; when, having cir- 
cumambulated the image, he returns to the Guru. 

Then the Guru performs the ceremony called Shik Adhivasan, 
which is thus : The ball of five-coloured thread mentioned in the 
first day's proceedings as being deposited in the kalas, is taken out 
of the kalas and one end of it twisted thrice round the neck of the 
kalas ; it is then unrolled and carried on to the Chela and twined 
in like manner round the Khikshari he holds in his hands, whence 
it is continued unbroken to the Guru and delivered into his hands. 
The Guru holding the clue in his hands, repeats prayers and 
then rolls up the thread and redeposits it in the kalas. He next 
performs the Pancha Upacharya puja to the kalas and the Khik- 
shari ; next he gives flowers and a blessing to the aspirant ; next 
he gives him the Abhisheka, invests his neck with a cord compos- 
ed of a piece of the thread just adverted to ; places the Pancha 
Raksha Sastra on his head, and repeats over him some prayers. 
The Mandal is then obliterated, when the aspirant is made to 
perform the Maha Bali ceremony which is thus : — 

2 B 



218 



In a large earthen vessel four seers of dressed rice, and a quar- 
ter of the quantity of Bhatinas and a nose mask faced like Bhai- 
rava, having a small quantity of flesh in the mouth of it, are plac- 
ed ; and the aspirant makes puja to Bhairava, presenting to the 
mask the naived and a light, and pouring out water from a conch 
he holds in his hands so that it shall fall into the vessel. The 
Guru repeats mantras, and invoking the Devatas and Xagas, and 
Yakshas, and Rakshasas, and Gandharvas, and Muharajs, and 
Mortals, and Amanushas, and Pretas, and Pisachas, and Dakas, 
and Dakinis, and Matrika Grahas, and Apas Marga, and all mo- 
tionless and moving things, he says, ' Accept this Bali and be 
propitious to this aspirant, since the sacrifice has been performed 
according to the directions of Vajra Sata.' Such is the Sarva 
Bhuta Bali : and in like manner the Balis of Maha Kala, and of the 
Graha, and of the Pancha Raksha, and of the Graha Matrika, and 
of Chand Maha Rakshana, and of the guardians of the four quar- 
ters, and of Ekvingsati, and of Basundhara, and of the Chait} T a. 
and of Pindi Karma, and of Amoghpasa, and of Sarak Dhara, 
and of Tara, and of Hevajra, and of Kurkulla, and of Vajra Kro- 
dha. and of Marichi, and of Ushnisha, and of Hariti, are perform- 
ed ; and then those denominated the Tshaga Bali, and the Sankha 
Bali, which are thus : In the conch are put flesh, and blood and 
spirits which are poured, as before, into the great vessel, whilst 
the Deities of all the six quarters are invoked with prayers. Then 
the Pancha Upachara puja is made in the vessel, after which the 
aspirant is commanded to perform the Chakra puja, which com- 
pleted, he returns to his seat. The Chakra puja is that which is 
made to all the images in the Vihar by going round to them all. 
The Guru then causes the aspirant to perform the Gurii Mandal 
puja and afterwards to sprinkle rice on all the images, which 
done, the aspirant gives Datchina to the Guru, and the Guru, in 
return, gives the aspirant a small quantity of rice and a trifle of 
money. Then the Guru causes him to perform the Des-Bali- 
Yatra, which is, the aspirant removes the great earthen vessel with 
its contents, by means of carriers, and distributes the contents in 
small quantities to all the shrines of Daityas, and Pisachas, and 



219 



other evil spirits throughout the city ; and having distributed 
them, returns with the empty vessel. 

Then the Guru and ten Naikyas take the aspirant to make the 
circuit of all the shrines in the neighbourhood, and to present at 
each, offerings of rice, and pan, and supari, and flowers ; after 
which they go to the Chela's home, when his relatives come out 
and give him four seers of rice, and then conduct the aspirarit and 
the rest within and feed them with khil. The Guru then returns 
to the Vihar, and the Chela remains at home. Then the aspi- 
rant must, at all events, practise mendicity and the other rules of 
his order, for four days ; but if at the end of that time, he becomes 
tired of the ascetical profession he must go to his Guru at the Vihar 
and to his Upadhayaya, (the latter is his instructor in the forms of 
puja, according to the Puja Kand) and addressing the Guru, must 
say, \ O Guru ! I cannot remain an ascetic, pray take back the Chiva- 
ra and other ensigns of it ; and having delivered me from the Sra- 
vaka Charya, teach me Maha Yan Charya.' The Guru replies, £ Tru- 
ly, in these degenerate days to keep the Pravrajya Vrat is hard, a- 
dopt then the Maha Yan Charya. But if you abandon the Pravrajya, 
still you cannot be relieved from observing the following command- 
ments : — Not to destroy life. Not to steal. Not to commit adultery. 
Not to speak falsehoods. Not to take spirituous liquors and drugs. 
To be clement to all living beings. The observance of the above 
rules shall be a pravrajya to you, and if you obey them, you shall 
attain to Mukti.' The aspirant then washes the Guru's feet, and 
having done so, returns to his seat, when the Guru having pre- 
pared the materials of puja noted in the first day's ceremonies, 
makes puja to the kalas, after which he makes puja to the ves- 
sel, holding the aspirant's shorn locks. He then draws Mandals 
for the Tri Ratna and for himself, and makes the aspirant offer puja 
to all four ; when he obliterates the whole and says, 8 You have 
abandoned the Bhiksha Charya and adopted the Maha Yan 
Charya ; attend to the obligations of the latter, as just explained 
to you.' 

The badges of mendicity are then taken from the aspirant by 
the Guru who gives him the Pancha Raksha as before related, 



220 

and then sends him to make the Chakra puja, which done, he 
causes him to perform the Guru Mandal puja, and then to sprin- 
kle rice on the Deities. Then the Guru Mandal is erased, the 
aspirant makes an offering to the Guru, and the Guru gives him 
his blessing. The Guru then sends the aspirant to throw into the 
river the hair shaven from his head and on his return makes the 
Agam puja and Kumari puja ; when the whole is concluded by a 
feast. 

P. S. Since the above papers were written, I have perused Mr. 
Tumour's essays in the Bengal Asiatic Journal, and I fully admit 
(as anticipated by Mr. Prinsep) that the honours of Ceylonese 
literature and of the Pali language are no longer disputable. I 
may add in regard to the latter point, that recent research has 
established the following very curious fact, viz. that the Sanscrit 
Buddhist works discovered by me in Nepaul, are now found to 
be copiously interspersed with passages in various Pracrits — Pali 
among the rest — pretty much in the manner of the Hindoo 
Drama wherein this mixture of less finished dialects with the 
Sanscrit is of common occurrence. 

B. H. H. 



THE END. 



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